WASHINGTON — The Trump administration hit Venezuela with economic sanctions Thursday to block its exports of gold, a lifeline commodity for the embattled leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro, but put off targeting its oil exports, the mainstay of its economy.
President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, announced the sanctions as he outlined a Latin America strategy that seeks to isolate and punish leftist governments in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua while embracing right-wing leaders in Colombia, Chile and soon Brazil.
Branding the three leftist-ruled countries as a “Troika of Tyranny,” Mr. Bolton sought to emphasize the “destructive” influence that Cuba plays in Venezuela and, to a lesser extent, in Nicaragua. Cuban military, intelligence and medical personnel have been operating for years in Venezuela to shore up Mr. Maduro and, before him, the late Hugo Chavez.
Mr. Bolton also praised the president-elect of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, as a “like-minded” partner, citing his recent electoral victory as one of several “positive signs” for the region. A former military officer who praises far-right dictatorships, Mr. Bolsonaro is perhaps best known for insulting comments he has made about women, gays and people of color.
On Monday, Mr. Trump had tweeted that he had a “very good conversation” with Mr. Bolsonaro. “We agreed that Brazil and the United States will work closely together on Trade, Military and everything else! Excellent call, wished him congrats!
A senior administration official said Thursday that the White House is confident that Brazil’s “strong institutions” will preserve order in the hemisphere’s second-largest democracy. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolsonaro share a dedication to free markets and other priorities.
The penalties against Venezuela were in an executive order signed by Mr. Trump and released Thursday. They target specific economic sectors, including sanctions aimed at the “illicit” exploitation of gold. Venezuela exported $900 million worth of gold in the first nine months of this year through Turkey in anticipation of U.S. restrictions.
The new sanctions will deny the Maduro government “access to stolen wealth” that it uses “as a bastion to finance illicit activities, to fill its coffers, and to support criminal groups,” Mr. Bolton said.
Administration officials said Mr. Trump’s order could lead to sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, an action that would reverberate throughout the Americas. U.S. officials worry that interfering with the oil industry could cause prices at U.S. gas pumps to soar and hurt U.S. refineries that process Venezuelan crude. In addition, several Caribbean allies rely heavily on cheap Venezuelan oil.
Venezuela is reeling from economic and political turmoil, with food and medicine scarcities that have sent nearly 2 million residents fleeing to neighboring countries and further abroad — creating a refugee crisis on par with Syria but in a much shorter period.
The Trump administration previously blacklisted 70 Venezuelan individuals and entities, including Mr. Maduro and his wife, barring them from traveling to the United States or doing business with Americans or American companies.
Mr. Bolton said the Treasury Department also expanded the list of businesses that it believes are controlled by Cuba’s military or intelligence services and are off-limits to U.S. trade or commerce. The administration has attempted to roll back many of the openings with Cuba that began under former President Barack Obama.
Mr. Bolton delivered his speech in Miami, still a bastion, albeit a shrinking one, of ultra-conservative Cuban and Venezuelan exiles and their descendants and supporters. He spoke at the city’s Freedom Tower, where Cuban refugees were welcomed after the 1959 revolution that brought communists to power, a day after Mr. Trump campaigned in Florida for Republicans in tight Senate and gubernatorial races.
“Today, in this hemisphere, we are also confronted once again with the destructive forces of oppression, socialism and totalitarianism,” Mr. Bolton said. “In Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, we see the perils of poisonous ideologies left unchecked, and the dangers of domination and suppression.”
Mr. Bolton did not offer to expand asylum programs for people fleeing the countries he condemned as oppressive. The Trump administration has made it more difficult to obtain refugee status in the United States.
Reverting to the language of the anti-communist crusades during the Cold War, Mr. Bolton said the United States would “stand with the freedom fighters” against “tyrants who fancy themselves strongmen and revolutionaries, icons and luminaries.”
“In reality, they are clownish, pitiful figures more akin to Larry, Curly and Moe,” Mr. Bolton said. “The three stooges of socialism are true believers, but they worship a false god.”
Thursday’s speech appeared a long-delayed victory for Mr. Bolton. In 2002, when he served in the State Department, he urged the White House to add Cuba to President George W. Bush’s description of Iran, North Korea and Iraq as an “axis of evil.”
At the time, Mr. Bolton accused Havana of producing illicit biological weapons, although there was no reliable evidence. Then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage blocked his effort.
Now Cuba has joined Mr. Bolton’s troika of tyranny.
First Published: November 2, 2018, 12:27 a.m.
