Americas

COMMENTARY

On Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro won another six-year term in an election so laughably rigged – and mostly boycotted by Venezuelans – it made last month’s presidential vote in communist Cuba look Jeffersonian.

The White House on Monday announced it would block the Venezuelan government from selling off the nation's assets in exchange for cash in response to what it called an illegitimate and "sham" election Sunday that gave leader Nicolas Maduro another term.

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - The U.S. Treasury slapped sanctions on one of Venezuela’s most powerful men Friday — Diosdado Cabello, along with his family and economic adviser — accusing him of drug trafficking, money laundering and illegal mining.

The sanctions come as Washington is turning up the heat on the South American nation just days before presidential elections.

Also named in Friday’s report are Cabello’s brother, Jose David Cabello, the head of the tax department, and Cabello’s wife, Marleny Josefina Contreras.

The Nicolás Maduro regime, already accused of destroying one of Latin America's most prosperous economies, is now ruining the finances of Venezuelans abroad who feel obligated to send much-needed assistance to relatives in the oil-producing country.

Many Venezuelans living in Miami spend $200 to $300 per month to buy food and ship it to relatives back home using freight companies. They also spend money on medicines, which are in short supply in Venezuela.

COMMENTARY

While a growing global chorus calls for Nicaraguan strongman Daniel Ortega to step down, I’m thinking back to one of my favorite editorial cartoons.

It appeared 28 years ago, at the curtain call of Ortega’s first presidency – right after Nicaraguan voters tossed out him and his Marxist Sandinista party, ending their decade of authoritarian rule.

The cartoon shows Ortega rafting across the Caribbean to Cuba. Iconic communist dictator Fidel Castro stands onshore angrily shouting, “You lost a WHAT?!”