US Treasury slaps sanctions on 8 of 32 Venezuelan judges. Their money is No Bueno in the US – PB/TK
US sanctions 8 Venezuelan Supreme Court judges – By Conor Finnegan / May 18 2017
The Treasury Department has announced that it has sanctioned eight top Venezuelan government officials — all members of the country’s Supreme Court of Justice.
“The Venezuelan people are suffering from a collapsing economy brought about by their government’s mismanagement and corruption,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement. “By imposing these targeted sanctions, the United States is supporting the Venezuelan people in their efforts to protect and advance democratic governance in their country.”
The 32-judge Supreme Court has aided President Maduro in his consolidation of control by dissolving the democratically elected National Assembly and allowing the president to rule by executive authority. Venezuela’s opposition party controls a majority of the Assembly but has been slowly weakened by Maduro since they won elections in 2015.
Critics have said Maduro’s bypassing of the country’s legislative body represents a troubling turn toward autocratic rule.
A senior administration official accused these eight judges of “contributing to the rupture of democratic norms.” The list includes Maikel Moreno, the president of the Supreme Court, and the seven principal members of the court’s Constitutional Chamber who wrote most of the decisions that have undermined the National Assembly, according to the Treasury Department.
Continue to abcnews.go.com article: http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-sanctions-venezuelan-supreme-court-judges/story?id=47501248
