The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Thursday published a sanctions list that included three nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores.
It is the latest move by the US in its ongoing political conflict with the Venezuelan regime and comes a day after seizing an oil tanker off the country’s coast.
Frankie Flores, Carlos Flores and Efrain Campao, known as the ‘narco-nephews’ in Venezuela due to their involvement in drug trafficking, have been denied access to any assets or financial assets held in the US, and US companies and citizens can now be penalized for doing business with them.
Ramon Carretero, a Panamanian businessman accused of transporting Venezuelan oil, six firms and six Venezuelan-flagged ships were also added to the sanctions list.
The Treasury Department alleged that Carretero had business deals with Maduro’s family and also facilitated oil shipments on behalf of the Venezuelan government.
What the Treasury statement said
“Nicolás Maduro and his criminal associates in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs that are poisoning the American people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said in a statement.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury is holding the regime and its cronies and companies accountable for its continuing crimes,” he said.
Flores and Campo were jailed for years in the US on drug charges. Flores had already been approved in July 2017, but he was removed from the Treasury list in 2022 during the Biden administration, amid an effort to promote talks for democratic elections in Venezuela.
Sources say US plans to seize more tankers
Meanwhile, sources familiar with the matter said the US is preparing to seize more oil tankers from Venezuela.
Wednesday’s tanker seizure was the first seizure of its kind of oil cargo or tanker from Venezuela, and it comes as the Trump administration has led a major military buildup in the Caribbean.
White House spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt told reporters she would not comment on reports of future actions on oil tankers, but instead focused on the sanctions package.
“We will not stand by and watch sanctioned ships put to sea with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel the narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world,” Levitt said.
A reduction or interruption of Venezuelan oil exports would certainly put pressure on the Maduro government’s finances.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar