Venezuela Crisis : Trump Bans Top Officials From Entering US.

President Donald Trump has banned senior Venezuelan officials and their families from entering the US.

This effort is aimed at forcing President Nicolás Maduro to step down.

Venezuelans were suffering “a tragedy of historic proportions” but they would be “freed”, Mr Trump told Latin American leaders meeting in New York.

The US recognises opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president.

Mr Maduro has accused the US of trying to orchestrate a coup to oust him.

The US along with 50 nations that have given its support to Mr Guaidó, the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly.

Mr Guaidó declared himself president in January arguing that Mr Maduro’s re-election last year was fraudulent.

The declaration signed by Mr Trump targeted Venezuelan officials with the rank of vice minister or above, military members with a rank of colonel or above and members of the pro-Maduro legislature, the Constituent Assembly.

The ban also applied to anyone acting “on behalf of or in support of” Mr Maduro and those enjoying “financial benefit” from the government and their immediate family members.

US officials have previously defended these measures as being effective because “these people’s wives can’t shop in the US”, Reuters news agency reports.

Source : BBC