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U.S. using sanctions to 'intimidate' Venezuelan gov't officials: LatAm legislator

Xinhua, March 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

The United States is using its sanctions regime to "intimidate" Venezuelan government officials, a Latin American legislator said Friday.

Roy Daza, a Venezuelan deputy of the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino), said the tactic was especially targeted at Venezuelan prosecutors investigating those responsible for the violent anti-government demonstrations in 2014 and their U.S. links.

The four months of protests claimed 43 lives.

"What is the administration of (U.S. President Barack) Obama seeking through the sanctions against Venezuelans?" asked Daza in an opinion piece published in the regional daily Correo del Orinoco.

"Evidently it's trying to pressure and intimidate officials working to defend the peace in our country and the legal branch, the Prosecutor's Office."

Venezuela's National Prosecutor Katherine Harrington is one of seven security and defense officials slapped by the U.S. with sanctions on Monday for alleged human rights violations.

The sanctions bar the individuals from entering the United States, freeze any assets they may have there and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.

Harrington is investigating email exchanges between former Venezuelan right-wing deputy Maria Corina Machado and U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Kevin Whitaker, among others. Officials say the emails uncover a plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro and topple his government.

In announcing the third set of sanctions against the South American government in four months, Obama issued an executive order claiming "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."

The aggressively-worded declaration has been condemned by the international community and should be retracted, said Daza.

The parliament, a consultative assembly that meets over matters of regional interest, is expected to convene soon in Panama and to condemn the U.S. measure. Endi