U.S. Treasury Sanctions Nicolas Maduro’s Wife Over Corruption, Venezuela’s ‘Decline’

The United States Treasury targeted the wife and close associates of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with sanctions Tuesday, according to a report from Yahoo News. Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, formerly an attorney general, and other members of Maduro’s inner circle will have their U.S. assets seized, and American businesses are now prohibited from conducting business with them. “Treasury will continue to impose a financial toll on those responsible for Venezuela’s tragic decline, and the networks and front-men they use to mask their illicit wealth,” United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement cited by Yahoo. President Maduro was slapped with the same penalties on July 31, 2017, alongside the president of Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly. The Treasury said the sanctions could be lifted if those named “take concrete and meaningful actions to restore democratic order, refuse to take part in human rights abuses, speak out against abuses committed by the government, and combat corruption in Venezuela.” Maduro reportedly responded negatively to the sanctions against his wife, calling the United States “cowards.”