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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US is considering adding Venezuela to its list of states sponsoring terrorism, but no final decision has yet been made, a person familiar with the talks said on Monday.
PHOTO FILE: The President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, speaking at a meeting with ministers at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, November 2, 2018. Miraflores Palace / Document via REUTERS
Adding Venezuela to the list could limit US economic assistance and impose financial restraints on a country already suffering from hyperinflation, massive migration and shortages of food and medicine.
Discussions over the issue have continued in recent days with the strong lobbying of Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who has long pressed the government to take a tougher stance against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the source said.
The deadline for deciding on the advisability of adding Venezuela to the terrorism list has not yet been determined, the source said.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it would be difficult for the Trump administration to provide concrete evidence linking the Maduro government and terrorism. he decided to put Venezuela on the list.
The four countries currently on the list – North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Syria – have been "repeatedly supporting international acts of terrorism".
Rubio and two other Republican senators wrote a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in September calling on him to designate Venezuela as a sponsor of terrorism and accusing him of links with the militant group of Hezbollah in Lebanon. the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). offered no proof.
The Trump administration has imposed several rounds of sanctions on the government led by the Maduro Socialists since 2017, accusing it of undermining democracy. On November 1, President Donald Trump signed a decree aimed at disrupting Venezuela's gold exports.
The Venezuelan Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maduro, who denies the limitation of political freedoms, said to be a victim of an "economic war" led by the United States.
The Washington Post, which said for the first time that the Trump administration was considering the designation, said the US State Department had requested information on the transfer proposed by various agencies in recent days.
A State Department spokesman said he "systematically and continuously reviewed available information and information provided by many sources about a possible state involvement in terrorism, evaluating all credible, verified and corroborated information. "
The White House declined to comment.
A senior US official told Reuters earlier this month that the Trump administration "is looking into all possible avenues" to put pressure on the Maduro government.
"We think his presidency is illegitimate," said the official, recalling Washington's rejection of the election result in Venezuela earlier this year. Maduro won another six-year term in May, but his main rivals disavowed the elections and alleged massive irregularities.
"The diet really understands that the world is getting smaller and smaller for them. And that's the kind of pressure needed to really change the minds of the regime. Sanctions have an effect, "said the official.
Report by Matt Spetalnick; Supplementary information by Alexandra Ulmer in Washington and Luc Cohen in Caracas; Edited by Sandra Maler
