Venezuela opposition leaders call for U.S. sanctions amid simmering political, economic crises [View all]

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Source: Miami Herald

The United States has a moral “obligation” to impose sanctions against Venezuelan leaders accused of violating human rights and other crimes, opposition figures said Friday.

During a forum in Doral about the future of the South American nation hosted by e l Nuevo Herald and the Association of Venezuelan Journalists Abroad, government critics said a sanctions bill that passed the House in May is necessary to ratchet up pressure against the Nicolás Maduro administration that is straining beneath one of the worst political and economic crises in decades.

“The United States, which has been a promoter of international conventions,” against financial crimes and human rights violations “has the obligation to be coherent and defend them,” said Beatrice Rangel, a former cabinet minister during the Carlos Andrés Pérez administration and the executive director of AMLA consulting.

Horacio Medina, the head of the Miami branch of the opposition coalition known as the MUD, went further, saying the U.S. government hasn’t had a coherent policy toward Latin America since the Alliance for Progress under the John F. Kennedy administration.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/11/4230838/venezuela-opposition-leaders-call.html