US sanctions Venezuelan companies because they bring oil to Cuba | Chronic

The United States on Friday imposed new sanctions on oil and oil companies transporting Venezuelan oil to Cuba, a measure that is a reprisal against the "illegal" arrest of the anti-Chavez parliamentarian. Edgar Zambrano.

At the same time, the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Steven Mnuchin, warned in a statement that the decision "Warns Venezuela's armed forces and intelligence services, as well as those who support them, that their support for the illegitimate regime of (Venezuelan President Nicolás) Maduro will have serious consequences".

The note states that sanctions are "a direct response to the unlawful arrest of members of the National Assembly (Parliament) by the Sebin (Bolivarian Intelligence Service)"two days after the arrest of the vice-president of this body, Zambrano.

"The United States will take further action if Cuba continues to receive Venezuelan oil in exchange for military support"Mnuchin warned in a note reproduced by the agency EFE.

Zambrano and other members of the National Assembly are accused by Chavez of several crimes related to the failed uprising against Maduro last week.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded the "immediate release" of Zambrano on Thursday, but a Venezuelan court on that day ordered him to be tried by ordinary means and confined to Venezuela's main military fort.

The sanctions announced this Friday by the United States, which follow the previous ones, concern two vessels flying the Panamanian flag and their owners, the Liberian Serenity Maritime Limited and the company Monsoon Navigation, based in the Marshall Islands.

The United States is conducting a diplomatic offensive to take Maduro out of power and was the first country to recognize Venezuela's legitimate president Juan Guaidó, who was proclaimed the head of the executive power last January on behalf of the National Assembly and which has won the support of fifty nations.