Venezuela suspends economic relations with about 60 companies and people of Panama, including Valera

[Juppitèr]

According to the information gathered by the Venezuelan state agency, AVN, the measure aims to "protect the Venezuelan financial system."

The measure has been adopted jointly by the Ministries of Interior, Justice and Peace, Foreign Trade and Economy and Finance, according to state broadcaster VTV.

The announcement came a week after the Panamanian government included the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and other officials and former officials of the South American country on a list of people considered "high risk" in terms of money laundering and financing of terrorism. .

The Ministry of Economy and Finance of Panama disclosed the names of 55 people, including the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Tibisay Lucena, and the Attorney General of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, which he considers "high risk" .

The document also includes 16 companies and other people like Diosdado Cabello, first vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), and Adán Chávez, a 64-year-old physicist and older brother of the late President Hugo Chávez.

Numerous Venezuelan officials have been sanctioned in recent years with travel bans and freezing of assets, among others, by the United States, the European Union (EU) and recently by Switzerland following accusations of human rights violations.

The Venezuelan government says that sanctions are an interference in their internal affairs and hold those measures responsible for the chronic shortage of products such as food and medicine.