MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Speaking at a US Senate subcommittee hearing, the secretary general of the influential regional bloc said a "clear message" must be sent to President Nicolas Maduro that officials behind the ongoing crisis and civilian deaths must be "held to account."
"We support sanctions on individuals who have committed crimes and are accused of corruption and we need more economic pressure on a government that is investing the money it earns through natural resources that belong to the people to fight and kill that very same people," he said in a released statement.
Almagro emphasized however that the curbs would not worsen the suffering of the Venezuelan people, who have already been hit by the worst economic and political turmoil in the history of this oil-rich South American nation. Around a hundred have died in anti-Maduro protests since April.
