US President Donald Trump has signed executive order to block property of Venezuelan government, the White House said.
“All property and interests in property of the Government of Venezuela that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in,” the executive order said.
The order stressed that the restrictions would hit the PDVSA oil company and the Venezuelan Central Bank among others.
“This order is effective at 9:00 a.m. [13:00 GMT] eastern daylight time on August 5, 2019,” the executive order added.
Venezuela has been suffering a humanitarian and political crisis that intensified in January when US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido illegally declared himself the country’s interim president after disputing Nicolas Maduro's re-election.
The United States and some other countries have backed Guaido, while Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey and a number of other countries have said they recognize constitutionally-elected Maduro as the only legitimate president of Venezuela.
