Trump admin hits Cuba, Maduro regime with oil sanctions

The Trump administration’s announcement that the Department of Treasury has levied oil sanctions against the Maduro regime in Venezuela has received bipartisan support in the U.S. congress.

The Treasury department is targeting companies that transport Venezuelan oil to Cuba, which is accused of propping up Dictator Maduro, and have helped fund the human rights violations that his government have committed.

 “We continue to target companies that transport Venezuelan oil to Cuba, as they are profiting while the Maduro regime pillages natural resources.  Venezuela’s oil belongs to the Venezuelan people, and should not be used as a bargaining tool to prop up dictators and prolong oppression,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.  “Maduro relies on the support he receives from the Cuban military and intelligence services to retain his hold on power because he does not have the support of the Venezuelan people.”

“While the people of Venezuela still have no electricity and face hunger, sickness and misery, the dictator Nicolás Maduro continues to send oil to Cuba despite U.S sanctions and warnings,” said Rep. Donna Shalala (D)

Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) has long advocated for more sanctions or pressure to be levied on the “communist regime in Havana” because of the Castro brothers’ decades-long use of “it’s military and intelligence services to prop up dictator Nicolas Maduro,” and his “narcoterrorist crime family.”