US Sanctions Impede Medical Treatment, Kill Children - Venezuelan FM

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - A child, who did not receive appropriate treatment due to US sanctions, died in Venezuela, the country's foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, said on Friday, blaming the country's opposition for the incident.

"Unfortunately, one Venezuelan child died while awaiting a bone marrow transplant, this is the consequence of the criminal blockade by the United States, which bans money transfers to Italian medical facilities that work with [Venezuelan state-run oil company] PDVSA on such urgent cases", Arreaza wrote on Twitter.

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Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, in turn, said that US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido "transferred [PDVSA subsidiary] Citgo to the United States to satisfy capitalist interests". Rodriguez added that it caused the deaths of children who benefited from health programs.

Last week, Venezuelan Ambassador to Egypt Wilmer Omar Barrientos told Sputnik that since Guaido proclaimed himself interim president in January, US and European banks had frozen billions of dollars worth of the Venezuelan government funds.

The United States has als blocked the country's oil assets and imposed sanctions on PDVSA.

These facts heavily undermined the country's health care system, Barrientos said, adding that blocking Venezuela’s $9 million payment via an international account for dialysis supplies in 2018 led to 15,000 patients being left without treatment.

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The United States and a number of other countries have endorsed self-proclaimed Guaido, calling on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down and for new elections in the country to be held. Russia, China, Bolivia, Turkey and a number of other states have voiced their support for constitutionally-elected Maduro as Venezuela's only legitimate president.