Government: Venezuelan Government and Official Business

government: Exemptions include official business of the federal government and transactions related to the provision of humanitarian aid, according to CNN. It marks an escalation from the already expansive US measures against the Venezuelan government since the start of the country's chaotic political and economic crisis earlier this year. The executive order freezes assets of the government of Venezuela and associated entities and prohibits economic transactions with it, unless specifically exempted. In a letter to Congress outlining the action Monday night, Trump said, I have determined that it is necessary to block the property of the Government of Venezuela in light of the continued usurpation of power by the illegitimate Nicolas Maduro regime, as well as the regime's human rights abuses, arbitrary arrest and detention of Venezuelan citizens, curtailment of free press, and ongoing attempts to undermine Interim President Juan Guaido of Venezuela and the democratically-elected Venezuelan National Assembly. Opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself acting president earlier this year. Venezuela's political turmoil stems from presidential elections last year wherein Maduro secured another six-year term in a process widely viewed as a sham. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.