US slow to back sanctions on Venezuela

As sanctions legislation against Venezuela advances in Congress, the Obama administration is finding itself wedged between pressure from Capitol Hill to punish officials over human rights and regional governments who think such a move would only add to tensions in the South American country.
The Senate foreign relations committee yesterday joined its House counterpart and issued a bipartisan approval of legislation that would ban visas and freeze the assets of top-level and security officials behind abuses committed during three months of anti-government protests.
While it's unclear whether the bill will move for a full vote, the Obama administration is already trying to slow its momentum, arguing that more time is needed for efforts by Brazil and other South American nations to broker talks between the government and opposition.

The opposition last week pulled out of the month-long dialogue, arguing that the government isn't negotiating in good faith as it continues to arrest protesters and refuses to budge on proposals to free jailed activists and create an independent truth commission to probe the deaths of 42 people on both sides.
There may be another reason for the United States' reluctance: fears of a regional backlash.
Chris Sabatini, policy director at the Council of the Americas, says even targeted US sanctions would smack of a return to Cold War policies like the half-century embargo against Cuba that are a favorite target of the current generation of Latin American leaders. Many, like Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, are allies of Maduro and have so far refused to join the US in condemning his government's crackdown.

"The bottom line.....Is isolation," said Sabatini. "Something does have to be done, but it can't be done by the US acting unilaterally."
Secretary of State John Kerry traveled today to Mexico, where the need for Maduro to concede space to the opposition is expected to be discussed, according to a senior State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official was not authorised to discuss the diplomatic plans by name.
Maduro has also lashed out at the prospect of sanctions, calling the Senate committee vote "detestable." Yesterday, he called for a meeting of South American heads of state in June to present evidence of what he says is a US effort to work with local political groups to carry out a slow-motion coup. His opponents in Venezuela also warn that any US intervention could backfire.