Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro announced in May that he planned to draft a new constitution and shut down the opposition-controlled National Assembly. His opponents in Washington and South Florida lobbied the Trump administration to pressure the regime to withdraw its proposal by banning Venezuelan oil imports. The White House instead issued sanctions against 13 high-ranking regime officials in the last week of July. On July 30 Maduro went ahead with the rigged elections for his handpicked “constituent assembly,” and...

Source: Wall Street Journal September 10, 2017 19:52 UTC