| Another turn of the screw... |
[Washington Examiner] President Trump is intensifying sanctions on Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, pairing a historic asset freeze with threats to punish anyone in the world who does business with his regime."We are sending a signal to third parties that want to do business with the Maduro regime: Proceed with extreme caution," White House national security adviser John Bolton said Tuesday. "There is no need to risk your business interests with the United States for the purposes of profiting from a corrupt and dying regime."
That warning, which Bolton delivered in Peru at a conference of 50 nations aligned against Maduro's dictatorship, could lead to expanded sanctions against Russian and Chinese companies providing Maduro financial and logistical support, as well as any European companies still doing business with the regime. The executive order authorizing those sanctions was hailed by opposition leader Juan Guaidó ‐ whom Trump and other Western leaders recognized as the legitimate interim president in January ‐ as negotiations to schedule elections have been at an impasse with Maduro’s refusal to agree to leave office.
"Any individual, company, institution or nation that tries to do business with the regime will be seen by the international justice system as collaborating with and sustaining a dictatorship," Guaidó tweeted after Trump signed the order Monday night. "They will be subject to sanctions and considered an accomplice to crimes."
The executive order prevents the Maduro regime’s international creditors from taking control of Citgo, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company’s U.S. affiliate, as payment for the regime’s debts. "Today there is no possibility of losing Citgo," Guaidó added Tuesday.