Latin American Nations Reject Legitimacy of Venezuelan Government, Impose Sanctions

Thirteen countries from across the Americas have slammed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and introduced new economic and political sanctions in an effort to asphyxiate his regime.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a press conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, on Dec. 12, 2018. The Lima Group is rejecting the legitimacy of Maduro’s new term and imposing political and economic sanctions against his regime. Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images

BOGOTA, Colombia—Thirteen countries from across the Americas have slammed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and introduced new economic and political sanctions in an effort to asphyxiate his regime. The measures were agreed as the Lima Group announced it wouldn’t recognize Maduro as the legitimate ruler of the Andean nation at its latest meeting Jan. 4.

Twelve Latin American nations and Canada denounced a “rupture of constitutional order” under Maduro and asked him to “cede power to the National Assembly,” the opposition-run congress, when his second six-year term is set to begin Jan. 10.