On Thursday, the administration of US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on 3 relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and a businessman close to his regime, in addition to 6 companies operating ships transporting Venezuelan oil.
The sanctions, announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, come as part of the latest steps in Trump’s pressure campaign against Maduro, whom the US administration accuses of leading a terrorist drug trafficking organization.
“Nicolas Maduro and his partners in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are poisoning the American people,” Besant said in a statement on the US Treasury Department’s website.
For his part, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on the “X” platform, “America is holding Maduro’s nephews involved in the drug trade accountable, and the Treasury Department is imposing sanctions on them, due to their illegal activities that harm Americans and destabilize our entire region.”
Reinstate sanctions on Maduro’s sons
Deputy spokesman for the US State Department, Tommy Piggott, said in a statement: “The United States imposes sanctions on 4 individuals and 6 entities, and identifies 6 ships, due to their support for the illegal Maduro regime in Venezuela,” as he described it.
“As the leader of a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) known as the Cartel de Los Soles, Maduro continues to destabilize our region,” Pigot continued. He added: “He and his associates ignored the will of the Venezuelan people and destroyed the country’s economy.”
He continued: “The US government will continue to block sources of funding for the illegitimate Maduro regime, which it uses to oppress the Venezuelan people. The United States will remain committed to protecting the American people by using all available means to eliminate the threats of drug trafficking and crime throughout the Western Hemisphere.”
What are the sanctions focused on?
These sanctions focus on three of Maduro’s nephews, two of whom are convicted of drug trafficking.
In October 2022, the previous US administration granted them an amnesty as part of a prisoner exchange deal that included 7 American citizens who were detained in Venezuela.
The two returned to Venezuela and continued their drug trafficking activities until 2025, according to the Axios website. The new sanctions also target the Venezuelan oil sector, including a businessman and six shipping companies, in addition to identifying six ships as blocked assets.
The sanctions come a day after the United States confiscated a ship that was transporting Venezuelan crude oil, because it was on the Treasury Department’s “list of citizens subject to special sanctions.”
Ambiguity surrounds the ships covered by the new sanctions
Data provided to Axios, an expert in oil and sanctions affairs, showed that 18 ships transported Venezuelan oil last month, and 6 of them were already subject to sanctions, with the exception of the ship that was confiscated on Wednesday, bearing the name “Skipper,” which was heading to Cuba, with 1.8 million barrels of oil on board.
It was not clear whether the six ships on which new sanctions were imposed on Thursday were involved in transporting Venezuelan oil last month, as these entities include companies registered in the Marshall Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and the United Kingdom, and own or operate ships flying the flags of Panama, Hong Kong, and the Cook Islands.
Commenting on the move, Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said that these sanctions put things back to normal after “the previous attempt by the Joe Biden administration to make a deal with Maduro, an attempt that allowed him to continue his dictatorial rule at the expense of the Venezuelan and American peoples.”
While a source in the Trump administration confirmed that what happened was only the beginning, he pointed out that Maduro, his family, and those close to him faced a clear choice: “Either stop drug trafficking, corruption, and dictatorship and leave the country, or pay the price.”