The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on seven individuals tied to President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, as Washington ratcheted up pressure on the Venezuelan leader. The US Department of the Treasury said in a statement that it had sanctioned relatives and associates of Maduro and his wife. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused them of “propping up Nicolás Maduro’s rogue narcostate.”
“We will not allow Venezuela to continue flooding our nation with deadly drugs,” Bessent said. “Maduro and his criminal accomplices threaten our hemisphere’s peace and stability. The Trump administration will continue targeting the networks that prop up his illegitimate dictatorship.”The family members are: Eloisa Flores de Malpica, Malpica Flores’s mother and the sister of Cilia Flores; Carlos Evelio Malpica Torrealba, his father; Iriamni Malpica Flores, his sister; Damaris del Carmen Hurtado Perez, his wife; and Erica Patricia Malpica Hurtado, his adult daughter were hit with sanctions on Friday. Maduro and his government have vehemently denied links to crime and say that the US is seeking to oust him in order to take control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. In recent months, the administration of US President Donald Trump has ratcheted up pressure on Maduro by executing a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean. After a series of attacks on alleged ‘narco traffickers’ off Venezuela, the US deployed its largest aircraft carrier to the region, carried out strikes against suspected drug vessels, seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela and declared a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. Trump has also repeatedly said that strikes on land in Venezuela are coming soon. Friday’s action sanctioned relatives of Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, the nephew of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores. The US says Malpica Flores was involved in a corruption plot at state oil company PDVSA and was sanctioned by Washington last week.
