The U.S. imposed its first economic penalties against Venezuela on Friday, hitting the South American country's financial sector in an attempt to starve President Nicolás Maduro's government of cash.
The Trump administration banned trades of Venezuelan debt, prohibiting Maduro's government and its state-run oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, from selling new bonds to Americans or in U.S. financial institutions. President Donald Trump signed an executive order approving the sanctions Thursday.
"In an effort to preserve itself, the Maduro dictatorship rewards and enriches corrupt officials in the ogvernment's security apparatus by burdening future generations of Venezuelans with massively expensive debts," Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
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