9/19/2017

FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/VENEZUELA: “U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new sanctions on Venezuela as his administration stepped up efforts to build an international alliance against President Nicolás Maduro.
‘We are prepared to take further action if the government of Venezuela persists on its path to impose its authoritarian rule on the Venezuelan people,’ Mr. Trump said in his speech at United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday [9-18-17]. ‘Venezuelan people are starving and the country is collapsing…and we cannot stand by and watch.’
Mr. Trump stopped short of repeating previous threats of a military operation in Venezuela, which were roundly criticized in the region.
The comments came a day after Mr. Trump met leaders of four Latin American nations to come up with a regional response to Venezuela’s economic and social crisis.
Last month, the Treasury Department banned U.S. financial institutions from buying new Venezuelan debt or dealing with the country’s government, pushing the country closer to default. The financial sanctions follow the blacklisting by U.S. authorities of dozens of top Venezuelan officials, including Mr. Maduro.
The Venezuelan government condemned Mr. Trump’s comments before he delivered them, accusing the U.S. president of racism and imperialism.”

-Anatoly Kurmanaev, “Trump Takes Aim at Venezuela in U.N. Speech,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 19, 2017 02:52pm