U.S. sanctions Venezuela officials over alleged human rights violations

President Barack Obama hit Venezuela with a range of sanctions on Monday over the country's alleged human rights violations.

Obama issued an executive order "declaring a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela," he wrote in a letter to Congress.

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The U.S. will use financial sanctions to target Venezuelan officials responsible for "the erosion of human rights guarantees, persecution of political opponents [and] curtailment of press freedoms," as well as those who have arbitrarily arrested or used violence against protesters. The letter also cites "significant public corruption" in the country. Read more...

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