WASHINGTON: The US Treasury imposed new sanctions Thursday against three of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s relatives as well as six companies shipping the South American country’s oil.
The move came as the White House said it will bring an oil tanker seized by American forces off the Venezuelan coast to a port in the United States, adding to growing fears of open conflict between the two countries.
Washington took control of the tanker in a dramatic raid that saw US forces rope down from a helicopter onto the vessel in an operation that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said was aimed at Maduro’s “regime.”
Treasury officials said three nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, were being slapped with sanctions, labeling two of the men “narco-traffickers operating in Venezuela.”
“Nicolas Maduro and his criminal associates in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are poisoning the American people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
