The Venezuelan Parliament has condemned this Friday “in the strongest terms” the sanctions imposed the day before by the United States authorities against 16 Venezuelan officials for having “obstructed the realization of a transparent electoral process” and having avoided publishing “the precise results” of the presidential elections.
“The National Assembly of Venezuela condemns and rejects, in the strongest terms, the continuous and permanent aggression by the supremacist Government of the United States, this time by imposing unilateral coercive measures against Venezuelan public servants, such as the first vice president of the National Assembly, deputy Pedro Infante,” said the president of the chamber, Jorge RodrÃguez Gómez, in a statement.
These statements come after the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Thursday against 16 Venezuelan officials, including members of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), the National Electoral Council (CNE), as well as important figures of the Venezuelan Army and Intelligence, in relation to the presidential elections of July 28 in which Nicolás Maduro’s victory was proclaimed without the Chavismo having yet made public the minutes that would confirm his electoral triumph.
The president of the National Assembly has accused the Venezuelan opposition, which he has described as “the masters of the fascist ultra-right”, of being behind this “new attack” by the United States Government. Thus, he has denounced that the sanctions “flagrantly violate the principles of International Law” and seek to “intimidate and frighten the Venezuelan people.”
He also expressed his solidarity with those sanctioned, who he said were “attacked by this new and illegitimate action of the imperial hegemon,” and warned the United States and “its European satellites” that no “unilateral coercive measure” will be able to stop “the libertarian and independence-oriented course that the Venezuelan people have taken.”
We reiterate to the world that more than 200 years ago we stopped being a colony thanks to the will and struggle of our people and for this reason we do not accept, nor will we accept, the interference of foreign powers in our internal affairs, nor any neocolonial subordination,” he said.
For his part, the deputy Pedro Infante responded that the sanctions of the United States are a sign that the Venezuelan authorities are “on the right side of history,” according to the Globovisión channel.
“We receive it with great honor and take it as a decoration. If the gringos sanction us, we are on the side of the people (…). Furthermore, the gringos cannot sanction us, we are supported by the people,” he said.
