U.S. sanctions Venezuelan officials amid anti-Maduro protests

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on 13 senior Venezuelan officials as pressure mounts on President Nicolás Maduro ahead of a controversial vote for a new constituent assembly, BBC News reports.

The sanctions freeze the U.S. assets of those affected, and stop U.S. entities from doing business with them.

Those targeted include the interior minister and the head of the army.

Last week, President Donald Trump vowed "strong and swift economic actions" if Maduro held the poll, due on Sunday, July 30.

"Who do these imperialists in the United States think they are?" Maduro said on Wednesday. "The government of the world?"

He also called the sanctions "illegal, insolent and unprecedented".

The vote, which Venezuela says will proceed as planned, is to choose the 545 members of a new constituent assembly that would rival the opposition-held National Assembly.

Critics say the president is trying to cement a dictatorship. He argues it is the only way to bring peace back to the divided nation.

The U.S. sanctions also target the head of Venezuela's National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena, and former vice president Elias Jaua, who is leading the presidential commissions organising Sunday's vote.

The inclusion of senior figures from the state oil company PDVSA underlines a further threat from Washington that sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector could be next.

Announcing the sanctions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. "will not ignore the Maduro regime's ongoing efforts to undermine democracy, freedom, and the rule of law".

Maduro has accused the U.S. of stoking unrest against his government, but President Trump said last week that Washington "will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles".

A 48-hour general strike is currently under way in Venezuela, in protest at the planned vote.

A 30-year-old man was killed on Wednesday at a protest in Ejida, in the western state of Merida. The cause of his death was not initially given.

More than 100 people have been killed in protest-related violence, since almost daily anti-government protests began on April 1.

The unrest has further hammered an imploding economy that is running short of food and medicine.