US sanctions Venezuela’s top officials

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday announced sanctions on five Venezuelan officials, the latest move to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The United States Treasury said it sanctioned PDVSA chief Manuel Quevedo, three top intelligence officials and Rafael Bastardo, who U.S. officials say is the head of a national police unit responsible for dozens of extrajudicial killings carried out in night-time raids on Maduro's behalf.

All property and interests in property of those individuals and of entities they own in the United States would be blocked, and U.S. persons were generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

Separately, a U.S. official said U.S. military aircraft are expected to deliver more than 200 tons of humanitarian aid to the Venezuelan border in Colombia, with the shipment likely to take place on Saturday.

Washington recently has stepped up economic and diplomatic pressure against the Maduro government.

The White House said Friday that President Donald Trump would give a speech on Venezuela in Miami, Florida on Monday, a move many believed aimed at supporting Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

The steps are part of a wider effort by the United States to undermine Maduro, whose 2018 election it views as illegitimate and whose government it has disavowed, and to strengthen opposition leader and self-declared president Juan Guaido.

U.S. military aircraft are likely to deliver the aid to the Colombian side of the border with Venezuela on Saturday, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Trump administration on January 23 recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation's "interim president," a move that came days after Maduro was inaugurated for a second term as Venezuelan president.

Maduro retains the backing of Russia and China and control of Venezuelan state institutions including the military.