The United States slapped sanctions Tuesday on a Venezuelan state mining company, charging that its illicit gold operations were being used to prop up President Nicolas Maduro and his inner circle. The action was taken against CVG Compania General de Mineria de Venezuela CA, or Minerven, and its president Adrian Antonio Perdomo Mata, the US Treasury Department said.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Minerven and its president were targeted "for propping up the inner circle of the corrupt Maduro regime." "The illegitimate Maduro regime is pillaging the wealth of Venezuela while imperiling indigenous people by encroaching on protected areas and causing deforestation and habitat loss," he said. The sanctions were the latest in a series of US actions aimed at cutting off financing to Maduro in support of an opposition drive to force the leftist president from power.