US government sanctions president of Venezuelan airline Conviasa

The US government has slapped economic sanctions on a top Venezuelan aviation official who also heads state-owned airline Conviasa, part of a broader move targeting officials the USA deems as enabling the illegitimate government of president Nicolas Maduro. Conviasa president Ramon Celestino Velasquez Araguayan, who has also been Venezuela’s minister of transportation since May 2023, is among eight Venezuelan officials hit with new US sanctions, the US Department of the Treasury said on 10 January. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls the eight officials “Maduro-aligned individuals supporting Maduro’s illegitimate assertion of authority and repressive acts in Venezuela”. Those officials “lead key economic and security agencies enabling Nicolas Maduro’s repression and subversion of democracy in Venezuela”, adds the Treasury department. The seven other newly sanctioned Venezuelan leaders include the head of the country’s state-owned oil company, a minister of interior policy, and five police and military officials. US citizens are now prohibited from conducting business with those people and from involvement in transactions involving their property.<br/>