Venezuela rejects additional US sanctions

Venezuela has "emphatically" rejected the new additional US sanctions against its eight government officials involved in the creation of the controversial National Constituent Assembly (ANC), a top official said.

"We emphatically reject the pretensions and intentions of the US Treasury Department against eight people, among them citizens who have had the privilege of being elected by their own people to the ANC," Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza said late Wednesday.

All the targets of the measure, including Adan Chavez, brother of the late President Hugo Chavez, have very close ties to the government of President Nicolas Maduro, reports Xinhua news agency.

As a result of the move, all assets of these individuals subject to US jurisdiction are frozen, and American nationals are prohibited from dealing with them, according to the Treasury Department.

The new sanctions comes after Washington blacklisted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on August 1, one day after Venezuela held elections for the National Constituent Assembly.

Washington has also slapped Maduro with sanctions.

Maduro rebuffed the sanctions that targeted him personally, saying he was "proud" to be singled out by the measure.

The ANC opened for its first session last week. The country's former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as the president of the new body.

Since Maduro announced the plan for the ANC'S formation in April, the opposition has led street protests, which have left over 120 dead.

--IANS

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