RECOGNIZING THE LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT OF VENEZUELA: The United States has officially recognized Juan Guaido as the Interim President of Venezuela.
- President Trump officially recognized the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the Interim President of Venezuela on January 23.
- Venezuela’s National Assembly invoked the country’s constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate and declared the presidency vacant.
- Other governments in the region and across the world have joined the United States in recognizing Guaido as Venezuela’s Interim President.
- The Administration has authorized Guaido to receive Venezuelan Government assets held at the United States Federal Reserve and other insured United States financial institutions.
- Venezuela’s legitimate government, led by Guaido, must be allowed to safeguard its assets for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.
PRESSURING MADURO AND HIS CRONIES: The United States has imposed tough sanctions on Maduro and members of his previous regime.
- President Trump signed an Executive Order to make clear that United States sanctions continue to target Maduro and his corrupt cronies.
- The United States will not tolerate those who seek to undermine Venezuela’s democratic institutions and loot Venezuelan resources to enrich themselves at the expense of the people.
- The Trump Administration is blocking assets in the United States owned or controlled by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.
- This action will further international efforts to disconnect Maduro and his cronies from their revenue sources, while preserving critical assets for the future of Venezuela.
- More than 100 individuals, entities, and aircraft have been designated as blocked property.
- The United States is confident that energy markets will remain well supplied despite reduced imports of Venezuelan oil.
- Respected forecasters like the United States Energy Information Administration expect global oil supply to exceed demand in 2019 and 2020.
- Over the next year, United States production is forecasted to increase to an all-time high of more than 12 million barrels per day.
STANDING WITH THE VENEZUELAN PEOPLE: President Trump stands with the people of Venezuela as they demand democracy, human rights, and prosperity denied to them by Maduro.
- The United States continues to provide humanitarian assistance to the Venezuelan people.
- Food and medicine have long been – and remain – exempt from our sanctions.
- More than three million people have fled Venezuela since 2015 and the United Nations estimates that number may swell to more than 5.3 million by the end of 2019.
- As of December 2018, there were more than 280 known political prisoners in Venezuela.
- Venezuelans have suffered from violence at the hands of the security services, including extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests.
- Mismanagement by Maduro led to hyperinflation exceeding one million percent in 2018, worsening already dire economic circumstances.
