EU to add Venezuelan officials to curbs blacklist

BRUSSELS: The EU agreed to add Venezuelan officials to its sanctions blacklist on Thursday, European sources said, the first time the bloc has targeted individual members of President Nicolas Maduro’s embattled regime.

Seven individuals have been blacklisted according to diplomats, making them subject to asset freezes and travel bans.

The European Union has voiced serious concerns about rights abuses in Venezuela, where protests against Maduro last year turned violent and economic collapse has led to dire shortages of food and medicine.

Last week four people were killed in violence linked to food looting, bringing to six the number of deaths tied to desperate shortages in the oil-rich but crisis-riven country since December. Ambassadors from the 28 member states on Thursday “agreed on new listings... in view of the situation in Venezuela”, an EU official said.

The move comes after the bloc hit Venezuela in November with an embargo on weapons and equipment that could be used for political repression.

Venezuelan government and opposition representatives are set to hold a new round of talks in the Dominican Republic on Thursday on resolving the crisis. The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) wants to ensure this year’s presidential election be “free and fair”.

The latest round of meetings, last week, came after Maduro’s government threatened to ban key opposition parties from the election, while the opposition threatened to resume street protests which cost the lives of 125 people last year.