The United States imposed sanctions on family members and associates of Nicolas Maduro and his wife on Friday as Washington steps up pressure on the Venezuelan president.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement that it had imposed sanctions on seven people it said were tied to Maduro and his wife. Finance Minister Scott Bessent accused them of “supporting Nicolas Maduro’s rogue states.”
“We will not allow Venezuela to continue flooding our nation with deadly drugs,” Bessent said.
“Maduro and his criminal accomplices threaten the peace and stability of our hemisphere. The Trump administration will continue to target the networks that support his illegitimate dictatorship.”
Venezuela’s information ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maduro and his government have strongly denied links to crime and say the United States is seeking to oust him to take control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
In recent months, US President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up pressure on Maduro and implemented a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean.
It has carried out strikes against suspected drug vessels in the region, seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela and declared a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
Trump has also repeatedly said that strikes on land in Venezuela are coming soon.
Friday’s action sanctioned relatives of Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, the nephew of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores. The US says Malpica Flores was involved in a corruption plot at state oil company PDVSA. He was sanctioned by Washington last week.
His mother – the sister of Maduro’s wife – as well as his father, sister, wife and daughter were hit with sanctions on Friday.
The finance ministry on Friday also extended a general license protecting Venezuela-owned refinery Citgo Petroleum from creditors through February 3, which was set to expire on December 20. It was a much shorter extension than the last one issued by the Treasury in June, which lasted six months.
Washington has protected the Houston-based company from creditors in recent years, even amid a court-ordered auction of shares in its parent company, PDV Holding. The license temporarily prohibits transactions in a Venezuela-issued bond backed by Citgo stock.
A US judge in November approved the sale of shares in Citgo Petroleum’s parent company to a subsidiary of Elliott Investment Management, following his approval of a $5.9 billion bid by the company in a court-ordered auction to pay creditors linked to Venezuela.
The sale order, which is awaiting Treasury approval, was the last major legal step to end a two-year auction aimed at paying up to 15 creditors for defaulting on debts and expropriations.
