WASHINGTON, April 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States on Friday announced
sanctions on ships of Venezuela’s state oil company and companies that link
it to key ally Cuba, hoping to cut off vital lifelines for President Nicolas
Maduro.
Vice President Mike Pence unveiled the latest measures in Washington’s bid
to oust Maduro, a leftist firebrand who has nonetheless held on to power for
more than two months, and vowed further pressure on Cuba — a bugbear of the
United States for a half-century.
“Venezuela’s oil belongs to the Venezuelan people,” Pence said in a speech
at Rice University in Houston.
“Those looking on should know this: All options are on the table. And
Nicolas Maduro would do well not to test the resolve of the United States of
America,” he said.
“The United States will continue to exert all diplomatic and economic
pressure to bring about a peaceful transition to democracy,” he said.
The Treasury Department said it was designating 34 vessels of state oil
company PDVSA as blocked property, meaning that the United States will
prohibit all transactions with them.
It also targeted a tanker that ships crude oil from Venezuela to Cuba, the
Despina Andrianna, as well as two shipping companies that own or register the
vessel. One is based in Liberia and the other in Greece, one of the sole
Western nations that backs Maduro.
Pence also hinted that President Donald Trump’s administration will take
further action against Cuba as it considers allowing exiles to sue over
property seized by the communist authorities.
“In the coming weeks, the United States will be taking even stronger action
against Cuba. In this administration, I promise you, it will always be Que
Viva Cuba Libre,” he said, using the Spanish for “Long Live Free Cuba.”
The push on Cuba is a sharp change from the previous administration of
Barack Obama, who said that the longtime US effort to isolate the island had
failed and re-established diplomatic relations.
A Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
the United States estimated that Venezuela delivered 50,000 barrels a day to
Cuba — a critical amount for the island, which in turn provides security,
intelligence and other services for Maduro.
“By severely impacting the shipment of that oil and the ability to get that
oil from Venezuela to Cuba, there is going to be a recalibration of that
relationship. This is the first step in the pressure,” the official said.
But Maduro also still enjoys support from China, which has lent $60 billion
over the past decade to Venezuela, and Russia, which has sent military
experts to Caracas and says the United States is attempting a coup.
The United States itself was a key market for Venezuelan oil through Citgo,
a subsidiary of PDVSA, but Washington has forced the operator to place
earnings in a blocked account.