US drafts sanctions against Venezuelans over disputed election

The US is laying the groundwork for new sanctions on Venezuelan government officials in response to Nicolás Maduro’s disputed reelection in July.

The Treasury Department is close to announcing 15 individual sanctions on Maduro-affiliated officials who it claims “obstructed the holding of free and fair presidential elections,” according to documents seen by Bloomberg. 

The measures target key leaders the US says collaborated with Maduro to undermine the July 28 vote, a list that includes members of the electoral authority, Venezuela’s top court, the National Assembly and the intelligence and military intelligence police, known as SEBIN and DGCIM. The plans could be announced as soon as this week and could change before they’re finalized.

The latest wave of sanctions comes a month after the electoral authority declared that Maduro was reelected for a third consecutive term, despite electoral data published by the opposition that suggested he lost by a wide margin. Protests against Maduro’s claim of victory swept the capital of Caracas and other cities in the days after the vote, with more than 2,400 Venezuelans arrested—including more than 100 minors—in the fiercest crackdown of his 11-year rule.

The US and others have questioned the legitimacy of the vote count, and some Maduro allies have called on the government to release voting tabulations. On Monday, Maduro’s government ordered the arrest of presidential candidate Edmundo González, the winner of the vote according to the US and others.

A press official for the Treasury Department declined to comment, and a representative of Venezuela’s government didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

The list of sanctioned individuals would include a group of military officials behind the repression, persecution, arrest and torture of Maduro dissenters. The US is also preparing a separate group of sanctions on top regime financiers, the people said. 

According to the documents, the US views the officials as having supported Maduro in breaking an October deal between his government and the opposition for guarantees of a freer and fairer vote.

On Monday, the US Justice Department seized one of Maduro’s planes, a Dassault Falcon 900EX jet, after concluding it was bought and operated in violation of US sanctions. The jet, which has been flown to Florida, was seized earlier this year by police in the Dominican Republic when it landed in Santo Domingo.