D.C. targets ‘troika of tyranny’

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Trump administration on Wednesday intensified its crackdown on Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, rolling back Obama administration policy and announcing new restrictions and sanctions against the three countries whose leaders national security adviser John Bolton dubbed the “three stooges of socialism.”

“The troika of tyranny — Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua — is beginning to crumble,” Bolton said in a speech near Miami on the 58th anniversary of the U.S.’s failed attempt to overthrow the Cuban government.

Bolton announced a $1,000 cap per person, per quarter on money families in the U.S. can send relatives in Cuba. Washington also moved to restrict “non-family travel,” cultural and education exchange trips that soared under Obama.

Bolton spoke hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a policy allowing lawsuits against foreign firms operating on properties Cuba seized from Americans after the 1959 revolution.

The U.S. is sanctioning Venezuela’s Central Bank, which the Bolton says has been instrumental in propping up the embattled government of President Nicolas Maduro. The sanctions do not bar humanitarian aid or private remittances.

Bolton also announced sanctions against financial services provider Bancorp, which he claimed is a “slush fund” for Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

“The United States looks forward to watching each corner of this sordid triangle of terror fall: in Havana, in Caracas, and in Managua,” Bolton said in South Florida, which is home to many thousands of exiles and immigrants from the three countries.

He said Obama administration policies had given the Cuban government “political cover to expand its malign influence” across the region, including in Venezuela. Cuba has trained Venezuelan security forces to repress civilians and support Maduro, Bolton said, calling Maduro “quite simply a Cuban puppet.”