1st LD: U.S. slaps tougher sanctions on Venezuelan officials

U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Monday, imposing additional sanctions on Venezuelan officials over human rights abuses and corruption.

The order bans seven Venezuelan individuals from entering the United States, freezes their assets in the U.S. and prohibits Americans from doing business with them.

"The situation in Venezuela...constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat," Obama said in the executive order. Endite