Caracas (Sputnik) – The vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, said that US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, confessed that the sanctions imposed on Venezuela seek to prevent the arrival of food in that South American country.
“During the minute that Pompeo is not ‘stealing, cheating, or lying’ in his own words, he declares and confesses that the illicit sanctions are to prevent the arrival of food in Venezuela. Thank you. One more proof of the US crime of extermination against our people,” Rodríguez wrote on her Twitter account.
Durante el minuto que @secpompeo no está “robando, engañando o mintiendo” según sus propias palabras, declara y confiesa q las sanciones ilícitas son para impedir la llegada de alimentos a Venezuela. Gracias. Una prueba más del crimen de exterminio de EEUU contra nuestro pueblo https://t.co/Tl4jNZlI0P
— Delcy Rodríguez (@drodriven2) June 18, 2020
Pompeo said the United States took steps to “prevent (Nicolás) Maduro’s regime from stealing Venezuela’s oil.”
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The official pointed out that these sanctions are aimed at the “oil for food” scheme, which -according to him- would not be provided to the citizens of that Caribbean nation.
The battle of tweets comes after a US decision of including several Mexican food and logistic companies and individuals in the OFAC list of sanctions related with Venezuela.
Today, the U.S. took steps to stop the Maduro regime from stealing Venezuela's oil. These sanctions target the illegitimate regime’s “oil-for-food” scheme that had no intent of providing food to the people. We stand with Venezuelans in their quest for freedom and prosperity.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) June 18, 2020
On Thursday, the United States imposed sanctions aimed primarily at entities and individuals based in Mexico for allegedly trying to evade U.S. restrictions on Venezuela’s oil sector.
The Treasury Department: “designated three people and eight foreign entities, and identified two vessels as property blocked for their activities or associated with a network that seeks to evade US sanctions on the Venezuelan oil sector.”
Most of the sanctioned companies are providers for the Venezuelan massive CLAP food program providing boxes of food to more than 6 million Venezuelan households every month as a measure designed by President Maduro to reduce the risk of famine in Venezuela as a result of US sanctions.
In January 2019, the US sanctioned the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), a measure with which it sequestered $7 billion.
In addition, the United States’ sanctions against PDVSA prevent transactions between the state-owned company and its clients in the United States, which were the main buyers of Venezuelan crude, forcing the South American nation to relocate its exports.
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