US hits Venezuelan security chiefs with sanctions for ‘electoral fraud’

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The US has imposed new sanctions on allies of Nicolás Maduro across Venezuela’s security apparatus for “electoral fraud”, but stopped short of suspending licences that allow Chevron and other oil companies to operate there.

The measures follow a disputed presidential vote in July, in which Washington and the G7 bloc recognised opposition leader Edmundo González as the winner. Venezuela’s opposition has called for the US to cancel the energy licences, which are widely seen as the only effective means of pressuring Maduro.

The US Treasury department on Wednesday said it would sanction 21 security and cabinet-level officials aligned with Maduro, including 15 leaders from the national guard and police, intelligence service, militia and military counter-intelligence service.

“They have supported and carried out Maduro’s orders to repress civil society in his efforts to fraudulently declare himself the winner of Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election, thus ignoring the will of the overwhelming majority of Venezuelan voters,” it said.

Maduro, in power since the death of his revolutionary socialist mentor Hugo Chávez in 2013, was declared the victor in July’s election by the national electoral council, a body controlled by his allies, without publishing a detailed breakdown of the results.

The opposition, led by María Corina Machado — who was barred from running — published thousands of independently verified voting tally receipts showing González, her stand-in, to be the winner by a margin of two to one.

The state department will also impose new visa restrictions on “a significant number” of Maduro-aligned officials who “undermined the electoral process” and “are responsible for acts of repression”, the officials said. Almost 2,000 individuals are now under such visa restrictions.

The Biden administration reimposed broad oil sanctions against Caracas in April, but exemptions for individual companies — including Chevron, Repsol and Maurel & Prom — have significantly boosted Venezuelan oil production, providing Caracas with much-needed dollars.

Senior US administration officials said the licensing policy was “under constant monitoring”.

Washington’s announcement comes after the government launched several investigations into Machado and González. Machado has been in hiding since early August, only occasionally appearing at rallies in Caracas, while González fled to Spain in September.

Last week, prosecutors loyal to Maduro announced another investigation into Machado for her support for the Bolívar act, a bipartisan bill passed by the US House of Representatives that would bar the government from signing contracts with any company that does business with Caracas.

Authorities have in recent days surrounded the Argentine embassy in Caracas, where six aides to Machado have been sheltering since March to avoid arrest.

González has told interviewers he plans to return to Venezuela to be inaugurated on January 10, when the next presidential term begins.

The fresh sanctions come after Donald Trump tapped Venezuela hawks Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz to serve as US secretary of state and national security adviser respectively. 

During Trump’s first term he deployed a “maximum pressure” campaign against Maduro, including sweeping sanctions and the recognition of a parallel government led by opposition politician Juan Guaidó.