U.S. levels sanctions against Venezuela

WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump implemented economic sanctions against Venezuela on Friday. The sanctions go after the country’s financial sector, attempting to weaken Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s power in the country. The Trump administration placed a ban on trades of Venezuela debt, preventing Maduro’s state-run oil company from selling new bonds to U.S. financial institutions. “In an effort to preserve itself, the Maduro dictatorship rewards and enriches corrupt officials in the government’s security apparatus by burdening future generations of Venezuelans with massively expensive debts,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. Maduro assumed power in 2013, and Venezuela has been in decline ever since. The sanctions come just two days after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Doral, Fla., to reassure Venezuelan expatriates that the White House will not back down from pressuring Maduro.