MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Venezuela on Saturday condemned new sanctions that the U.S., Britain, and the European Union imposed the previous day, when the country swore in President Nicolas Maduro for a third term after a six-month election dispute.
“The Venezuelan Armed Forces categorically and energetically rejects the new sanctions imposed by the infamous imperial brotherhood,” wrote general Domingo Hernandez Larez, head of the Strategic Operational Command of the National Armed Forces of Venezuela in a statement posed on social media.
He called the sanctions a “desperate action, outside the rule of international law.”
The condemnation came after outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration increased its reward to $25 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro on drug trafficking charges. The previous reward was $15 million.
It also issued a $25 million reward for Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and a $15 million reward for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, as well as new sanctions against eight other officials including the head of state oil company PDVSA Hector Obregon.
The U.S. indicted Maduro and others on narcotics and corruption charges, among others, in 2020. Maduro has rejected the accusations. In Hernandez’s statement, he said the Venezuelan government has carried out a “head-on attack against the scourge of drug trafficking.”
The U.S. move coincided with sanctions by Britain and the European Union, each targeting 15 officials including members of the National Electoral Council and the security forces, and Canadian sanctions targeting 14 current and former officials.
Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of July’s election by both Venezuela’s electoral authority and top court, though detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published.
Venezuela’s opposition says ballot box-level tallies show a landslide win for its former candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.
Maduro’s nearly 12 years in office have been marked by deep economic and social crisis and a exodus of millions of Venezuelans fleeing the country. His government has always rejected all sanctions, saying they are illegitimate measures that amount to an “economic war” designed to cripple Venezuela.
(Reporting by Laura Gottesdiener in Mexico; Editing by David Gregorio)
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