Trump issues warning to Maduro as Venezuelan leader enters third term, US expands sanctions
President-elect Donald Trump issued a warning ahead of his inauguration of the contested president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who assumed leadership for a third term on Friday.
Despite significant opposition at home and abroad to the July election in which Maduro declared victory without providing proof of a ballot box, the Venezuelan leader, considered a “dictator” by US lawmakers, will now serve until 2031.
on Thursday, opposition leader María Corina Machado emerged from months in hiding to join hundreds of anti-Maduro protesters in the capital Caracas and demand that opposition candidate Edmundo González be sworn in instead.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro holds a news conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 31, 2024, three days after his disputed re-election. Maduro banned the X social network in Venezuela for 10 days after accusing it of being used by his opponents to foment unrest after the election. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
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Machado was briefly detained by government security forces after they “forcibly intercepted” her convoy as it tried to leave the protests, the Associated Press reported.
Trump demanded on social media that she remain “safe and alive.”
“Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and will of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands of people protesting against the regime,” he wrote. “These freedom fighters should not be harmed and must remain safe and alive.”
The opposition figure was apparently forced to make several videos before she was released, although she the details of those recordings remain unclear.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters at a protest against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, a day before his inauguration for a third term. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
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Maduro’s supporters reportedly denied that Machado had been arrested.
On Friday, the Biden administration supported the efforts of opposition leaders and, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia should be sworn in and the democratic transition should begin.
“Today, Nicolás Maduro held an illegitimate presidential inauguration in Venezuela in a desperate attempt to seize power. The Venezuelan people and the world know the truth – Maduro clearly lost the 2024 presidential election and has no right to claim the presidency,” the secretary said in a statement. “The United States rejects the National Electoral Council’s false announcement that Maduro won the presidential election and does not recognize Nicolás Maduro as President of Venezuela.
“We are ready to support the return of democracy to Venezuela,” added Blinken.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday imposed a new round of sanctions on the Maduro regime, this time targeting “officials who run key economic and security agencies that enable the repression of Nicolás Maduro and the subversion of democracy in Venezuela.”
Eight officials have been named under the sanctions, including the recently appointed head of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, Hector Obregon, as well as the national transport minister, Ramon Velasquez, the ministry said in a statement.
“In addition, OFAC sanctions senior Venezuelan military and police officials who lead entities with roles in carrying out Maduro’s repression and human rights violations against democratic actors,” the statement said.
A Venezuelan opposition supporter reacts as he gathers with fellow supporters ahead of the inauguration of President Nicolas Maduro for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, January 9, 2025. (Reuters/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)
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Maduro has once again been targeted by Washington’s sanctions, and the reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction has been increased to $25 million.
The same amount was offered for Venezuela’s Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, along with a $15 million reward for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.
Members of the military and police are also named in the sanctions.
Blinken confirmed on Friday that about 2,000 individuals who are on the Maduro side have been subject to visa restrictions.
