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EU-VENEZUELA-POLITICS-SANCTIONS
EU extends sanctions against Venezuela
BRUSSELS, Nov 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The European Union on Tuesday extended
sanctions against Venezuela by a year to keep up pressure on President
Nicolas Maduro’s government as the oil-rich country lurches deeper into
crisis.
An embargo on arms and equipment that can be used for political repression
was extended to November 14 next year, along with asset freezes and travel
bans on 18 senior members of the Maduro regime blamed for rights abuses.
The European move comes less than a week after Washington slapped tough new
sanctions on Venezuela targeting particularly the gold sector and denounced
Caracas as being part of a “troika of tyranny” with Cuba and Nicaragua.
The European Council, which groups the 28 member states, said the decision
to extend the sanctions was taken “in view of the continuing deterioration of
the situation in Venezuela”.
“These measures are intended to help encourage democratic shared solutions
in order to bring political stability to the country and allow it to address
the pressing needs of the population,” the council said in a statement.
“These targeted measures are flexible and reversible and designed not to
harm the Venezuelan population.”
The EU imposed the arms embargo in November last year and added various
officials to the sanctions list over the course of 2018, most recently in
June in response to Maduro’s controversial re-election as president.
Economic collapse in Venezuela has led to chronic shortages of food and
medicine and, according to the UN, prompted 1.9 million Venezuelans to flee
the country since 2015.
BSS/AFP/RY/1910 hrs