New sanctions were imposed on Minerven, the ferrous metals mining company, and its president Adrian Antonio Perdomo Mata, Reuters reported citing the US Department of the Treasury’s statement.
The company was included in the sanctions list for supporting the “regime of President Nicolas Maduro,” according to a press release issued by the agency. The Treasury also added that it will aggressively pursue those involved in the illicit gold trade.
“Since 2016, the Maduro regime purchased the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of gold from small, independent miners, paying the miners in Venezuelan bolivars, even as Venezuela is experiencing hyperinflation as a result of extreme economic mismanagement” the US Department of the Treasury stated.
The department believes that the income from the gold trade is the only thing keeping Maduro in power.
At the same time, twelve individuals related to the owners of the Venezuelan Globovision TV channel, Raul Gorrin and Gustavo Perdomo, were removed from the blacklist. The Treasury has not explain this decision yet.
Earlier in January, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, prohibiting Venezuelan oil imports to the United States.
