Venezuela: US announces new sanctions blocking $7bn in offshore assets held by Maduro

The White House announced a number of new sanctions against Venezuela. In the announcement, the US  warned it would immediately block at least $7bn in assets held offshore by Nicolas Maduro and his top officials.

The BBC reports that the US has imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil firm PDVSA and urged the country’s military to accept a peaceful power transfer.

National Security Adviser John Bolton said the action meant that President Nicolas Maduro and his allies could “no longer loot the assets of the Venezuelan people”.

This is a developing story