WASHINGTON, March 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Department of the Treasury on Friday imposed sanctions on six Venezuelan security officials aligned with President Nicolas Maduro.
According to a statement issued by the Treasury, the sanctioned six officials "control many of the groups that prevented humanitarian aid from entering Venezuela on February 23."
"We are sanctioning members of Maduro's security forces in response to the reprehensible violence, tragic deaths, and unconscionable torching of food and medicine destined for sick and starving Venezuelans," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement.
Some of the targeted officials oversee Venezuelan security units in regions bordering on Colombia and Brazil, according to the statement.
All property and interests in property of those individuals that were subject to U.S. jurisdiction would be blocked, and U.S. persons were generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.
Early this week, the Treasury slapped sanctions on four Venezuelan state governors for their alleged involvement in "endemic corruption and in blocking the delivery of critical humanitarian aid, thereby exacerbating the ongoing humanitarian crisis."
The United States has piled up a large amount of "humanitarian aid" in the Colombian border city of Cucuta and Brazilian city Boa Vista, near Brazil's border with Venezuela. Denying the existence of a humanitarian crisis, the Venezuelan government refused to let the aid cross the border and called the aid operation a U.S.-orchestrated show leading to an eventual invasion.
The Trump administration recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation's "interim president" on Jan. 23, days after Maduro was inaugurated for a second term as Venezuelan president.
In response to Washington's support for Guaido, Maduro announced he was severing "diplomatic and political" ties with the United States, ordering all the U.S. diplomatic and consular personnel to leave Venezuela in 72 hours.
Maduro on Feb. 23 announced the severance of his country's diplomatic and political relations with Colombia, following the latter's support for Venezuela's opposition and military defectors.
