MIAMI _ Denouncing last month's regional Venezuelan elections as irregular, the Trump administration imposed new individual sanctions Thursday against 10 Venezuelans it accused of undermining democracy, censoring the news media and engaging in the corrupt administration of government-run food programs.
The Treasury Department froze U.S. assets, banned U.S. travel and prohibited Americans from doing business with top allies of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, including his chief of staff, two sitting ministers and one of the all-powerful Constituent Assembly's vice presidents.
"As the Venezuelan government continues to disregard the will of its people, our message remains clear: the United States will not stand aside while the Maduro regime continues to destroy democratic order and prosperity in Venezuela," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement obtained by the Miami Herald ahead of its planned release.
The Constituent Assembly swore in the winners of an Oct. 15 election the Treasury Department said was "marked by numerous irregularities that strongly suggest fraud" that helped Maduro's ruling socialist party win a majority of governorships. The government ignored opposition calls for an independent audit of the results.
Thursday's penalties bring to 40 the total number of Venezuelans sanctioned by the U.S. for undermining the South American country's democracy _ including Maduro himself, whom Mnuchin has labeled a "dictator." All four pro-Maduro members of Venezuela's five-member National Electoral Council are now on the list.
Sanctioned Thursday were: Elvis Amoroso, the Constituent Assembly's second vice president; Sandra Oblitas, the National Electoral Council vice president; Socorro Hernandez, member of the National Electoral Council; Carlos Quintero, alternate member of the National Electoral Council; Isaias Rodriguez, the Constituent Assembly's former second vice president; Ernesto Villegas, the newly appointed culture minister and former communications minister; Freddy Bernal, urban agriculture minister; Jorge Marquez, presidential chief of staff; Manuel Fernandez, president of state-run communications company CANTV, and Carlos Osorio, president of a transportation mission and former vice president of security and food sovereignty.
Osorio was among the Venezuelans whom Sens. Marco Rubio and Robert Menendez asked President Donald Trump to sanction in July. In 2016, auditors for the opposition-controlled National Assembly found Osorio "complicit in swindling the state of up to $573 million" through the country's food program, according to Treasury.
Bernal, who now heads the food program, was previously sanctioned by the U.S. as a drug trafficker in 2011. The U.S. said he acted on behalf of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Canada sanctioned 40 Venezuelans, including Maduro, in September. On Tuesday, Sen. Bill Nelson asked Treasury to slap sanctions on all 545 Constituent Assembly members and ban Venezuelan oil imports "until constitutional order has been restored."
The latest sanctions come two days after the Constituent Assembly took away Congressman Freddy Guevara's immunity and barred him from leaving the country. Last week, the Maduro-stacked supreme court said it suspected Guevara of instigating unrest during months of anti-government protests earlier this year. The decision was denounced by 12 Western Hemisphere governments, including Canada and Mexico.
Guevara, the vice president of parliament, spent more than a day in hiding before taking refuge at the Chilean ambassador's Caracas residence.
By going after Guevara, Venezuela "is pursuing yet another extreme measure to close the democratic space in Venezuela, criminalize dissent, and control information," State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement Tuesday.
A Venezuelan legislator's parliamentary immunity can be removed only by the opposition-controlled National Assembly. The court, however, turned instead to the Constituent Assembly, which has virtually unfettered powers. The U.S. considers the Constituent Assembly, elected under suspected fraud, to be illegitimate, and cite its formation as proof Venezuela is now a dictatorship.
In August, the U.S. imposed its first Russia-style economic sanctions against Venezuela, banning debt trades for bonds issued by the government and its state-owned oil company.
Last week, Maduro announced plans to restructure the country's debt, a sign the government could eventually default. The collapse of Venezuela's mismanaged, oil-dependent economy has left people short of food and medicine.
The man Maduro tasked with the debt restructuring, Vice President Tareck El Aissami, has been sanctioned by the U.S. as a drug-trafficking kingpin.
Trump and his Cabinet have repeatedly warned further sanctions against Venezuela were possible, though the harshest of all penalties _ an oil ban _ has yet to be seriously considered.
