Today the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Venezuelan national Diosdado Cabello Rondón (Cabello) pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13692, for being a current or former official of the Government of Venezuela. Cabello is the First-Vice President of the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, or the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the political party of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros (Maduro), whom OFAC designated pursuant to E.O. 13692 on July 31, 2017. Cabello is a former army lieutenant who forged a close link in the Venezuelan military academy with former, now-deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (Chavez). Cabello is also a former President and deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Venezuela’s legislative body, and he remained a deputy of the National Assembly until the Maduro regime usurped the powers of the National Assembly and created the illegitimate National Constituent Assembly, of which Cabello is currently a member. Cabello has held numerous positions within the Venezuelan government, having previously served as Minister of Public Works and Housing, Minister of the Interior and Justice, Minister of Infrastructure, Director of the Venezuelan National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL), and Governor of the state of Miranda.
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).
