-US issues fresh sanctions targeting Venezuela

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on four companies it said were operating in Venezuela’s oil sector as well as associated oil tankers, as US the administration increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.



The sanctions mark ⁠the latest action in US pressure campaign against Maduro, which has included a ramped-up U.S. military presence in the region and more than two dozen strikes on vessels allegedly involved in trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.



Earlier this month, Trump announced a blockade of all sanctioned vessels going in or out of Venezuelan waters as part of a strategy to pressure Maduro, a move that has helped knock down Venezuela's oil exports this month to about half of their November levels.



The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement it imposed sanctions on oil traders engaged in sanctions evasion for Maduro's government.



Among the targets ⁠were four tankers, some of which the Treasury accused of being part of the so-called "shadow fleet". T