The statements of the spokesman for the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, sharpened the disagreements following the decision of Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice to ratify the disqualification for 15 years of the presidential candidate for the opposition María Corina Machado.
During a press conference on Monday, Kirby threatened Venezuela with sanctions and said the US has options at its disposal. He also warned the Government of Nicolás Maduro that it has until April to comply with the agreements reached with the opposition in Barbados before the United States makes decisions on sanctions. “I’m not going to announce any of them at this time, but we certainly have options regarding sanctions and those types of things that we can take.” The government of Venezuela has until April, he said.
At the same time, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control reported the modification of License 43 of October 18th, 2023, which granted limited permits to the Venezuelan General Mining Company to carry out transactions for the production and marketing of its gold for six months, and modified them based on the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice with right-wing politicians.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela published a statement repudiating the blackmail attempts and interference in internal affairs by the United States Government, which constitute an ultimatum against the entire Venezuelan society.
The Ministry stated that Washington seeks to impose a coup, ignore the institutions of the Republic, apply new coercive measures and destabilize the Venezuelan economy and the well-being of its people through “coercion and threats.”
The Statement “absolutely and unequivocally” rejected the neocolonialist interventionism that the United States attempts to impose against an independent country that fully exercises its national sovereignty and has the right to choose its own destiny.
The document also denounced that the US decision has the support of “sectors of the oligarchy, of the big names, linked to past calls for the imposition of illegal sanctions that affected national, regional and global economy.”
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