WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On March 9, 2015, President Barack Obama issued an executive order imposing new sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials, freezing their assets and banning them from entering the United States.
Obama described the alleged erosion of human rights in Venezuela as an unusual and extraordinary threat to US security.
Sixteen members of Congress called on Obama in mid-May to stop the sanctions he had imposed on Venezuelan officials.
“The Administration must aid the people of Venezuela, not refrain from imposing further sanctions against human rights violators,” Ros-Lehtinen added.
During the seventh Summit of the Americas in April 2015, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro demanded that Washington withdraws the sanctions order. Maduro said he brought 11 million signatures collected worldwide in opposition to Obama’s order.
