Maduro regime turns the screw on opponents
New Venezuela law punishes support for sanctions with heavy jail terms
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela’s congress on Thursday passed a law punishing support for international sanctions on President Nicolas Maduro’s regime with up to 30 years in prison.
“Anyone who promotes, instigates, requests, invokes, favours, facilitates, supports or participates in the adoption of coercive measures… will be punished with imprisonment of 25 to 30 years,” the law states.
The legislation provides for fines of over $1 million for violations and bars political leaders who fall foul of it from holding elected office for 60 years.
It also provides for similar punishments for anyone who supports, or participates in, “armed or forceful actions” against the country.
The law’s adoption comes a day after the United States slapped sanctions on 21 top Venezuelan security and Cabinet officials, accusing them of a campaign of repression after Maduro’s bitterly contested re-election.
Maduro claims to have won a third six-year term in July 28 elections which the Opposition says he stole.
The socialist strongman ignored calls to release detailed polling numbers to back up his victory claim, which triggered large-scale protests in Venezuela.
The unrest ended with 28 dead, almost 200 injured and around 2,400 demonstrators arrested.
On Tuesday, the G7 group of industrialised nations — United States, Canada, Italy, Germany, Britain, Japan and France — said they considered Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia the rightful winner of the election.
The United States had already said on November 19 it recognised Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela’s legitimate “president-elect”.
The law passed Thursday was seen as a response to another round of US sanctions currently in the works.
On November 19, the US House of Representatives passed the BOLIVAR Act, which bars US federal agencies from conducting business with the Maduro regime or its associates. It still needs passage by the Senate and President Joe Biden’s signature for it to become law.
Caracas reacted angrily to the House action, saying the Bill would violate the United Nations Charter.
After Venezuela’s last disputed elections in 2018, which were also tainted by allegations of fraud, then president Donald Trump placed Venezuela under an oil embargo.
But he failed in his bid to dislodge Maduro from power.
