FANB rejects US sanctions

The Venezuelan Armed Forces – which have expressed “absolute loyalty” to Nicolás Maduro – rejected this Friday The sanctions against four senior military officers by the United Stateswhich questions the outcome of the July 28 presidential election.

Washington on Thursday issued a new set of sanctions targeting a total of 16 officials from institutions such as the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the parliament controlled by the ruling Chavista government, who also condemned the measures in public statements.

“We are not blackmailable, nor do we allow ourselves to be intimidated by the imperial scourge”said the statement from the Armed Forces, read on state television by the Minister of Defense, General Vladimir Padrino López, accompanied by the high military command.

The text accused the White House of “a new act of gross interference” with “the desperate and irrational purpose of overthrowing the government” of Maduro and “installing a puppet,” in reference to the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, exiled in Spain, although it did not mention him expressly.

🔴 Vladimir Padrino López strongly rejected the sanctions applied by OFAC against 16 Venezuelan state officials.

🗣️ The measure includes Officers, Generals, Admirals of the high military command and Commanders of higher units of the FANB. With this act… pic.twitter.com/dNPjmb1c3p

— 𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖 (@polianalitica) September 13, 2024

TSJ rejects US sanctions

The military declared themselves “attentive” to “any type of threat” and They announced that they will preserve order “at all costs”after post-election protests left 27 dead, 2 of them military personnel.

The CNE proclaimed Maduro re-elected for a third six-year term (2025-2031). It has not yet published the detailed results, while the opposition denounces fraud and claims a victory of González Urrutia, who arrived in Madrid on Sunday after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest.

At Maduro’s request, the TSJ validated the results, in a process questioned by his opponents, who considered it inappropriate.

“Our decisions have been based on the legal system,” the Supreme Court defended itself on Friday in a statement read by its president, Caryslia Rodríguez, who appears on the list of 16 sanctioned officials.

In the past, Maduro and Padrino López had already been sanctioned by the United Statesas well as other senior Venezuelan officials.