US mulls new visa restrictions, oil sanctions on Venezuela amid post-election impasse By Reuters

(Reuters) – The U.S. government is “very closely studying” the possibility of imposing additional sanctions on people in Venezuela, as well as potentially revoking the licenses of oil companies working in the South American country, in response to what it calls fraudulent elections, a said on Friday a high official.

Brian Nichols, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, made the remarks during a webcast conference with reporters.

“Either the use of individual sanctions or the revocation of licenses related to sector sanctions is something we are looking at very closely,” Nichols said when asked about the possibility of new visa restrictions on individuals as well as the cancellation of oil licenses.

Nichols said the US government would also work “in consultation with our friends and allies who are also concerned about this issue.”

His comments come nearly two months after Venezuela’s disputed July 28 election.

Election officials and the country’s supreme court proclaimed President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the contest with 52 percent of the vote, but authorities have not released the local vote count, although they have pledged to do so.

Shortly after the election, the opposition uploaded to a website scanned copies of thousands of voting machine receipts that their observers obtained, which they say show a landslide victory for their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez.