U.S. sanctions eight more Venezuelan officials, including Chavez brother

The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on eight more Venezuelan officials, including the brother of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, to punish them for their roles in President Nicolas Maduro’s creation of a new legislative superbody, U.S. officials said, Reuters reported. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions against 8 new individuals in Venezuela on Wednesday over their involvement in the creation of the country’s National Constituent Assembly. “We absolutely reject this act of aggression by the North American empire, by the government of Washington, and we do not recognize any sanction against the people of Venezuela,” said Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza in a televised broadcast.”

“Venezuela cannot be sanctioned by anything or anyone.”

Washington clamped sanctions on Maduro himself last week following actions against 13 Venezuelan figures last month. "Anyone elected to the National Constituent Assembly should know that their role in undermining democratic processes and institutions in Venezuela could expose them to potential U.S. sanctions,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement announcing sanctions against 13 current and former Venezuelan officials. “This regime’s disregard for the will of the Venezuelan people is unacceptable, and the United States will stand with them in opposition to tyranny until Venezuela is restored to a peaceful and prosperous democracy.”

On Tuesday, the new national assembly, which has the power to rewrite the country’s constitution, declared itself superior to all other branches of government.
The U.S. imposes new sanctions on eight Venezuelan officials, including Secretary of the 2017 Constituent Assembly Adán Chávez - the late President Hugo Chávez's brother, to "deter further democratic backsliding" in the South American country.