Statement by the Press Secretary on Sanctions Against Major Venezuelan Bank

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 22, 2019

Statement by the Press Secretary on Sanctions Against Major Venezuelan Bank   President Donald J. Trump is committed to preventing Nicolas Maduro and his regime from further stealing Venezuela’s resources and wealth for their personal gain, while the people of Venezuela suffer from lack of food, medicine, and reliable power and water.  The United States will not tolerate the arrest of peaceful democratic actors, including members of the democratically-elected Venezuelan National Assembly and those Venezuelans working with Interim President Juan Guaido. Today, the Department of the Treasury determined that Venezuela’s financial sector is subject to sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13850, and sanctioned a major Venezuelan bank and four subsidiary banks used by Maduro and his regime as slush funds to evade United States sanctions and to move money out of Venezuela.  The United States will continue to take steps to pressure Maduro, his regime, and those who support him, until they step out of the way and allow a democratic transition to occur under Interim President Guaido and the National Assembly of Venezuela.