Trump issues warning to Maduro as Venezuelan leader seeks third term, US extends sanctions
President-elect Donald Trump issued a warning ahead of the inauguration of controversial Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.who entered the top position for the third term on Friday.
Despite strong opposition at home and abroad in a July election in which Maduro claimed victory without providing evidence at the ballot box, the Venezuelan leader, considered a “dictator” by US lawmakers, is now set to rule until 2031.
On Thursday, opposition leader María Corina Machado emerged from months in hiding to join hundreds of anti-Maduro protesters in the capital Caracas and demanded that opposition representative Edmundo González be sworn in instead.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro holds a news conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 31, 2024, three days after his controversial re-election. Maduro shut down Venezuela’s social media platform X for 10 days after accusing it of being used by his opponents to foment unrest after the election. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
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Machado was briefly detained by government forces after he “forcefully blocked” his entourage as they tried to leave the protests, the Associated Press reported.
Trump took to social media to demand that he remain “safe and well.”
“Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and will of the Venezuelan people by hundreds of thousands of people against the regime,” he wrote. “These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and they should stay safe and alive.”
The opposition was apparently forced to record multiple videos before they were released, although the details of those recordings are still unclear.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado speaks to her supporters at a protest against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, the day before his inauguration for a third term. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
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It is reported that Maduro’s supporters deny that Machado has been arrested.
On Friday, the Biden administration supported the efforts of the opposition leaders and, according to the Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia must be sworn in, and democratic reforms must begin.
“Today, Nicolás Maduro held an illegal presidential inauguration in Venezuela in a desperate attempt to seize power. The people of Venezuela and the country know the truth – Maduro has clearly lost the 2024 presidential election and has no right to seek the presidency,” the secretary said. statement. “The United States rejects the fake declaration of the National Electoral Council that Maduro won the presidential election and does not recognize Nicolás Maduro as the president of Venezuela.
“We are ready to support the restoration of democracy in Venezuela,” said Blinken.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday imposed new sanctions on Maduro’s government, this time targeting “officials leading key economic and security institutions that allow Nicolás Maduro to suppress and overthrow democracy in Venezuela.”
In these sanctions, eight officials were named, including the newly appointed head of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, Hector Obregon, and the Minister of National Transportation, Ramon Velasquez, according to the department’s statement.
“Furthermore, OFAC is punishing high-ranking Venezuelan military and police officials who lead organizations that have contributed to Maduro’s repression and abuse of human rights by democratic actors,” the statement said.
A supporter of Venezuela’s opposition party reacts while meeting with other supporters before the inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 9, 2025. (Reuters/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)
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Maduro was also targeted by Washington sanctions, and the reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction was increased to $25 million.
The same amount was given to Venezuela’s Minister of Interior, Justice, and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, and a $15 million reward for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.
In these punishments, members of the army and the police were also called.
Blinken confirmed on Friday that around 2,000 Maduro sympathizers have been subject to visa restrictions.
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