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Trump administration is right to sanction Maduro’s henchmen in Venezuela
Editorial
Miami Herald
July 27, 2017

Days before a critical vote engineered by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — one that would all but turn him into an unmovable dictator — the Trump administration fired a warning shot across his bow, with a solid assist from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. It’s not too late for Maduro to get the message.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday levied onerous financial sanctions on several current and former officials in Venezuela on the eve of Sunday’s National Constituent Assembly. The assembly is a sham body with one goal: changing Venezuela’s constitution to let megalomaniacal Maduro remain president for an unbearably long time.

It would be a significant blow to the National Assembly, the only body that represents the people trapped in Maduro’s nightmare of a government. Trump and Rubio are right.

This regime continues to censure freedoms and has thrown the country into an unprecedented economic crisis. The international community should not sit by, idly.

Rather, it should follow the Trump administration’s lead and that of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia and Chile, which have urged Maduro to suspend Sunday’s vote. The U.S. government also threatens additional economic sanctions if the National Constituent Assembly takes place.

The regime is showing signs of vulnerability in the face of opponents who show no signs of relenting. This is the moment when the Venezuelan people need the strong support of the international community to save their country from the mess into which their incompetent government dragged them kicking and screaming.

Read the full editorial here.