The U.S. authorities included four entities in the list of sanctions on Venezuela.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control identified four vessels that transport oil and other petroleum products from Venezuela to Cuba as blocked property owned or controlled by the four designated entities. 

“The United States continues to take strong action against the former illegitimate Maduro regime and the malign foreign actors who support it. Maduro’s Cuban benefactors provide a lifeline to the regime and enable its repressive security and intelligence apparatus,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “Venezuela’s oil belongs to the Venezuelan people, and should not be used as a bargaining tool to prop up dictators and prolong the usurpation of Venezuelan democracy.” 

Today’s action further targets Venezuela’s oil sector and the mechanisms used to transport oil to Maduro’s Cuban benefactors, who continue to provide a lifeline to the illegitimate former regime, Treasury said in a statement.