US slaps sanctions on Maduro’s family circle

On December 19, the United States imposed sanctions on family members and close associates of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, in a move Washington said was aimed at intensifying pressure on the Venezuelan leader.

In a statement, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against seven individuals it described as linked to Maduro and his wife. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused those targeted of “propping up Nicolás Maduro’s rogue narcostate.”

“We will not allow Venezuela to continue flooding our nation with deadly drugs,” Bessent said. He added: “Maduro and his criminal accomplices threaten our hemisphere’s peace and stability. The Trump Administration will continue targeting the networks that prop up his illegitimate dictatorship.”

Maduro and members of his government have repeatedly and forcefully denied any links to criminal activity. They argue that the United States is seeking regime change in Caracas in order to gain control over Venezuela’s extensive oil reserves.

The sanctions come amid a broader escalation by US President Donald Trump, who has intensified efforts to pressure Maduro, openly campaigning for his removal and overseeing a significant military buildup in the southern Caribbean. Under Trump, the United States has carried out strikes against vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the region, seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, and declared what it described as a “blockade” on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela.

Trump has also repeatedly stated that strikes on land inside Venezuela are imminent.

Friday’s measures specifically targeted relatives of Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, the nephew of Maduro’s wife, whom US authorities accuse of involvement in a corruption scheme linked to Venezuela’s state oil company. Malpica Flores himself was sanctioned by Washington last week.

According to the Treasury Department, those sanctioned on December 19 include Malpica Flores’s mother — who is also the sister of Maduro’s wife — as well as his father, sister, wife, and daughter, expanding the scope of US measures against figures connected to the Venezuelan president’s inner circle.

By Tamilla Hasanova