EU hits 19 Venezuelans with sanctions over December election

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) - The European Union yesterday imposed sanctions on 19 senior Venezuelan officials, lawmakers and members of the security forces in response to December’s legislative election that the bloc said was rigged in favour of President Nicolas Maduro.

Allies of Maduro won almost all of the legislature’s seats in a vote that was also disavowed by the United States and seen in the West as a way for the president to take control of the only lever of power not already in his grasp.

EU foreign ministers approved the sanctions on Monday, taking the total number of Venezuelans blacklisted by the bloc to 55.

Like the United States, the EU has escalated sanctions on Maduro over the past two years, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was a sham, although the measures have yet to achieve their stated aim of bringing about new presidential elections.

“The individuals added to the list are responsible ... for undermining the opposition’s electoral rights and the democratic functioning of the National Assembly, and for serious violations of human rights and restrictions of fundamental freedoms,” the EU said in a statement.

Those sanctioned included two lawmakers of what the EU called the non-democratically elected National Assembly: Bernabe Gutierrez, leader of the “Accion Democratica” (Democratic Action) party, and Jose Brito, leader of the “Primero Justicia” (Justice First) party.

The EU also sanctioned Omar Prieto, governor of the populous state of Zulia, Remigio Ceballos Ichaso, the commander of the armed forces, and three officials of the Electoral Council, including its president, Indira Maira Alfonzo Izaguirre.

The new travel bans and asset freezes also targeted supreme court justices and marked a toughening of its sanctions approach by targeting political leaders who describe themselves as opposition members but are seen as being on allied to Maduro.

The West accuses Maduro of human rights abuses, undermining democracy and stoking hyperinflation that has dragged the oil-producing Andean nation towards economic collapse.