US to cut off Cuba trade, Venezuela oil

The United States on Friday announced sanctions on ships of Venezuela’s state oil company and companies that link it to key ally Cuba, hoping to cut off vital lifelines for President Nicolas Maduro. Vice President Mike Pence unveiled the latest measures in Washington’s bid to oust Maduro, a leftist firebrand who has nonetheless held on to power for more than two months and vowed further pressure on Cuba -- a bugbear of the United States for a half-century.

“Venezuela’s oil belongs to the Venezuelan people,” Pence said in a speech at Rice University in Houston. “Those looking on should know this: All options are on the table. And Nicolas Maduro would do well not to test the resolve of the United States of America,” he said. “The United States will continue to exert all diplomatic and economic pressure to bring about a peaceful transition to democracy,” he said.

The Treasury Department said it was designating 34 vessels of state oil company PDVSA as blocked property, meaning that the United States will prohibit all transactions with them. It also targeted a tanker that ships crude oil from Venezuela to Cuba, the Despina Andrianna, as well as two shipping companies that own or register the vessel. One is based in Liberia and the other in Greece, one of the sole Western nations that backs Maduro