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US slaps sanctions on Venezuelans for jailing ex-Citgo executives
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a Venezuelan judge and prosecutor over the jailing of six US-connected former oil executives who allege a sham trial. The Treasury Department said it was freezing all US assets and criminalizing transactions with Judge Lorena Carolina Cornielles Ruiz and prosecutor Ramon Antonio Torres Espinoza. The two were behind a trial last month in which six former executives from Citgo, the US-based subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, were handed prison terms. The six men's families say they were lured to Venezuela and a...
AFP
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US hits Chinese company over Venezuela internet curbs
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on a major Chinese electronics and engineering company for assisting Venezuela in curbing dissent on the internet.The US said it was restricting transactions with the China National Electronics Import and Export Corporation (CEIEC) and blocking assets of any firm in which the state-owned company holds 50 percent stake or higher.The Treasury Department said CEIEC provides expertise to Venezuela's state-owned telecom company, which has blocked independent media as well as livestreams by opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recogni...
AFP
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Former Citgo oil executives jailed in Venezuela
Caracas (AFP) - Six US-connected former oil company executives have been sentenced to between eight and 13 years in prison, Venezuela's Supreme Court said Thursday.Washington has repeatedly asked Caracas to release the men, who worked for Citgo, the US-based subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.They were first arrested in November 2017 and accused of crimes including money laundering.The company's former president, Jose Pereira Ruimwyk, a Venezuelan national with US residency, was jailed for 13 years and seven months on charges including embezzlement and conspiracy, the court said....
AFP
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Biden heralds shift in US strategy toward Venezuela
Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump's election defeat marks the end of a hardline pressure policy designed to oust Venezuela's leftist president Nicolas Maduro, and the arrival of Joe Biden in the White House in January could pave the way for a political solution to the crisis in that country.Acute tension marked the Trump administration's ties with Maduro, whose second term as president is not recognized by some 50 countries, led by the US. They consider opposition leader Juan Guaido to be the legitimate leader of oil-rich Venezuela.Trump's strategy of sanctions to strangle the Venezuel...
AFP
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Maritime operation challenges 'excessive' Venezuela claims: US Navy
Washington (AFP) - The United States Navy said on Thursday it had undertaken an operation off the coast Venezuela in an effort to challenge the South American country's "excessive maritime claims in international waters."A statement from Southern Command, which is responsible for US military operations in the Caribbean and Central and South American, called the exercise "successful." "The USS William P. Lawrence conducted a freedom of navigation operation to challenge Venezuela's excessive maritime claim in international waters," a Southern Command spokesman told AFP. "We routinely conduct fre...
AFP
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Pompeo bolsters South American alliance against Maduro
Bogota (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday wrapped up a three-day tour of Venezuela's neighbors designed to heap pressure on President Nicolas Maduro, saying his malign influence in the region "cannot be tolerated."Pompeo held talks in Bogota with Colombia's right-wing President Ivan Duque, calling the US ally "a true leader for the region" and lauding his stance against Maduro.Duque’s support "of Interim President Juan Guaido" and "a sovereign Venezuela free of the malign influences of Cuba and Russia and Iran is incredibly valuable," the US official said.Flanked by Pompeo a...
AFP
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Maduro has to leave, Pompeo says on South America trip
Boa Vista (Brazil) (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used a South American tour Friday to tell Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro he "has to leave," drawing a furious accusation of "war-mongering" from the leftist leader.Touring a refugee center in the town of Boa Vista, Brazil, on the border with Venezuela, Pompeo emphasized the plight of the nearly five million Venezuelans who have fled the country's economic meltdown under Maduro."Those people I talked to today are desperate to return home," he said of the refugees being processed at the center -- among the estimated 260,000 Venezu...
AFP
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With Pompeo trip, oil boom raises focus on Guyana, Suriname
Washington (AFP) - Mike Pompeo on Thursday becomes the first US secretary of state to visit Guyana and Suriname as the discovery of oil fuels a sudden new interest in the small South American nations.The stops come at the start of a three-day tour that will also take Pompeo to Colombia and the Amazonian border areas of Brazil, part of his campaign to highlight the economic devastation in Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela.Pompeo will meet freshly elected leaders in Guyana and Suriname, which are also being courted by China as the two nations -- underdeveloped and with sharp ethnic faultlines -- seek a...
AFP
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US 'spy' to be charged with terrorism: Venezuela
Caracas (AFP) - An "American spy" arrested near Venezuelan oil installations last week will be charged with "terrorism," Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced Monday.Venezuela announced the arrest on Friday, saying a US citizen he identified as Matthew John Heath had been spying on two oil refineries when he was captured with cash and weapons.Seven Venezuelan citizens were arrested in follow-up raids over the weekend, Saab said.One of them was a serving member of the Venezuelan Armed Forces."All the Venezuelan citizens are going to be charged with the crimes of treason, terrorism, illi...
AFP