"In this final ruling, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to remove Venezuela from Country Group B, which affords favourable treatment for certain exports of National Security-controlled items, and moves Venezuela to Country Group D:1, which lists countries of national security concern", the document said on Wednesday.
The document further explained that the downgrade was due to "the introduction of foreign military personnel and equipment into Venezuela".
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"The changes in this final rule also better align the Country Group designations for Venezuela with other EAR national security-related provisions that already apply to Venezuela, e.g., the military end-use and end-user controls that apply to certain items for export, reexport, or transfer (in-country) and provisions that are specific to countries subject to US arms embargoes", it added.
The situation in Venezuela has remained tense since January when opposition leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president. Washington and its allies endorsed Guaido and called on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down. Moreover, the United States seized billions of dollars’ worth of Venezuelan oil assets.
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Maduro, in turn, has accused the United States of trying to orchestrate a coup in order to install Guaido as its puppet and take over Venezuela’s natural resources. Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey and a number of other countries have voiced their support for constitutionally-elected Maduro as the only legitimate president of Venezuela.
