The US is slapping far-reaching sanctions on Venezuela in its bid to re-assert hemispheric dominance over what National Security Advisor Bolton dubbed a “Troika of tyranny” in a groan-worthy throwback to Bush’s “axis of evil.”
Trump has authorized even stricter sanctions against Venezuela, ostensibly targeting the country's gold sector but actually going after anyone and everyone deemed "to have directly or indirectly engaged" in "deceptive practices or corruption" relating to the Venezuelan government by the Secretary of State. Without defining any of those terms, the administration has written itself a blank check to wage economic warfare against the already-suffering nation.