The
following statement was issued today by the White House Press Secretary.
President Donald
Trump has signed an Executive Order imposing strong, new financial sanctions on
the dictatorship in Venezuela.
The Maduro
dictatorship continues to deprive the Venezuelan people of food and medicine,
imprison the democratically-elected opposition, and violently suppress freedom
of speech. The regime’s decision to create an illegitimate Constituent
Assembly—and most recently to have that body usurp the powers of the
democratically-elected National Assembly—represents a fundamental break in
Venezuela’s legitimate constitutional order.
In an effort to
preserve itself, the Maduro dictatorship rewards and enriches corrupt officials
in the government’s security apparatus by burdening future generations of
Venezuelans with massively expensive debts. Maduro’s economic
mismanagement and rampant plundering of his nation’s assets have taken
Venezuela ever closer to default. His officials are now resorting to
opaque financing schemes and liquidating the country’s assets at fire sale
prices.
As Vice President
Mike Pence has said, in Venezuela, “we’re seeing the tragedy of tyranny play
out before our eyes.” No free people has ever chosen to walk the path
from prosperity to poverty. No free people has ever chosen to turn what
was once, and should still be, one of South America’s richest nations into its
poorest and most corrupt.
We will not stand
by as Venezuela crumbles. The President’s new action prohibits dealings
in new debt and equity issued by the government of Venezuela and its state oil
company. It also prohibits dealings in certain existing bonds owned by
the Venezuelan public sector, as well as dividend payments to the government of
Venezuela.
To mitigate harm to
the American and Venezuelan people, the Treasury Department is issuing general
licenses that allow for transactions that would otherwise be prohibited by the
Executive Order. These include provisions allowing for a 30-day wind-down
period; financing for most commercial trade, including the export and import of
petroleum; transactions only involving Citgo; dealings in select existing
Venezuelan debts; and the financing for humanitarian goods to Venezuela.
These measures are
carefully calibrated to deny the Maduro dictatorship a critical source of
financing to maintain its illegitimate rule, protect the United States
financial system from complicity in Venezuela’s corruption and in the
impoverishment of the Venezuelan people, and allow for humanitarian assistance.
The United States
is not alone in condemning the Maduro regime. Through the Lima
Declaration of August 8, our friends and partners in the region refused to
recognize the illegitimate Constituent Assembly or the laws it adopts.
The new United States financial sanctions support this regional posture of
economically isolating the Maduro dictatorship.
The United States
reiterates our call that Venezuela restore democracy, hold free and fair elections,
release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally, and end the
repression of the Venezuelan people. We continue to stand with the people
of Venezuela during these trying times.
Source: The
White House, Office of the Press Secretary
