As Venezuelans go to the polls on Sunday, officials are complaining that new sanctions imposed by the United States are an attempt to sabotage an election that many already believe might be rigged.
Reuters reported the new sanctions were directed at Socialist Party official Diosdado Cabello (along with his wife and his brother), the right-hand man to President Nicolas Maduro, and were justified in a statement released by the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday.
As of March 2017, Cabello seized drug loads from small-scale drug traffickers, and combined and exported them through a Venezuelan government-owned airport. Cabello, along with President Maduro and others, divided proceeds from these narcotics shipments.
The U.S. government had already imposed direct sanctions on President Maduro, citing human rights abuses, and claimed that he should be held responsible for the desperate political and economic situation in his country. (RELATED: Venezuela Can’t Feed Its Soldiers, So They’re Rebelling)
Calling the new sanctions against Cabello a part of a “systematic campaign of aggression,” the Venezuelan government responded by claiming that the timing was not coincidental.
It’s not surprising that on the eve of a new vote, when the Venezuelan people will come out to defend their democracy against the imperialist aggressions that try and derail it, once again the U.S. regime tries to sabotage the elections.
The opposition party known as Popular Will has called on citizens to boycott the election they are certain will be rigged, calling it an “electoral sham that seeks to validate the dictatorship in Venezuela and the world.”