Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated eight Venezuelan government officials pursuant to Executive Order 13692. The eight officials are the President of Venezuela's TSJ, Maikel Jose Moreno Perez, and the seven principal members of the TSJ's Constitutional Chamber (La Sala Constitucional del TSJ or TSJ-C): Juan Jose Mendoza Jover (Second Vice President of the TSJ and President of the TSJ-C); Arcadio de Jesus Delgado Rosales (Vice President of the TSJ-C); Gladys Maria Gutierrez Alvarado (Magistrate of the TSJ-C and former President of the TSJ); Carmen Auxiliadora Zuleta de Merchan (Magistrate of the TSJ-C); Luis Fernando Damiani Bustillos (Magistrate of the TSJ-C); Lourdes Benicia Suarez Anderson (Magistrate of the TSJ-C); and Calixto Antonio Ortega Rios (Magistrate of the TSJ-C). As a result of today's actions, all of the designated individuals' assets within U.S. jurisdiction are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.
On July 10, 2015, OFAC issued the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 591 (the ‘‘Regulations’’) (80 FR 39676, July 10, 2015) to implement the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 (Pub. L. 113– 278) and Executive Order 13692 of March 8, 2015 (‘‘Blocking Property and Suspending Entry of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Venezuela’’) (E.O. 13692). The Regulations were published in abbreviated form for the purpose of providing immediate guidance to the public. Since then, the President has issued six additional Executive orders pursuant to the national emergency declared in E.O. 13692: Executive Order 13808 of August 24, 2017 (‘‘Imposing Additional Sanctions With Respect to the Situation in Venezuela’’) (82 FR 41155, August 29, 2017); Executive Order 13827 of March 19, 2018 (‘‘Taking Additional Steps to Address the Situation in Venezuela’’) (83 FR 12469, March 21, 2018); Executive Order 13835 of May 21, 2018 (‘‘Prohibiting Certain Additional Transactions With Respect to Venezuela’’) (83 FR 24001, May 24, 2018); Executive Order 13850 of November 1, 2018 (‘‘Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Venezuela’’) (83 FR 55243, November 2, 2018); Executive Order 13857 of January 25, 2019 (‘‘Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to Venezuela’’) (84 FR 509, January 30, 2019); and Executive Order 13884 of August 5, 2019 (‘‘Blocking Property of the Government of Venezuela’’) (84 FR 38843, August 7, 2019).