US Sanctions on Venezuela Opportunity for Independence: Maduro

Maduro recognized that the sanctions will mean sacrifice for the Venezuelan people. But he said they also open up the opportunity for a new era of independence. He added that with the imposition of sanctions "begins the stage of post-domination by the United States, with Venezuela again at the center of this struggle for dignity and liberation."
 
Speaking on national television, Maduro recalled that over the last two years his government has paid on time every cent of the US$65 billion that it owed on debt payments. "We could have spent that on education, more homes, water supplies and public works."
 
He said the measures amount to a blockade on Venezuela, similar to that imposed on Cuba, but that they will fail just as that one did.
 
Maduro pointed out that 62 percent of Venezuelan government bonds are held by U.S. investors. Another 12 percent are held in the UK and 6 percent in Canada. Trump, he said, has burnt their investments. "What will they do with them now?"
 
The Venezuelan president announced that he would be inviting all US investors and the US companies that receive oil from Venezuela, to a meeting in Caracas to discuss the best response to "this destructive move by Trump."
 
President Trump reportedly signed the executive order containing sanctions on Venezuela on Thursday night, but they were announced early on Friday.
 
The sanctions ban trades of Venezuelan debt and prevents the country's state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, from selling new bonds to US citizens or financial groups. Trades of existing bonds commissioned by Caracas will also be barred.
 
The sanctions follow through on Trump's threat last month that he would take strong economic actions if Maduro's government went ahead with plans to create a constitutional assembly. The opposition boycotted the vote to elect the body's 545 delegates who will look to draft a new constitution to resolve the country's political crisis.
 
The US administration of Donald Trump has publicized its policy of pursuing regime change in Venezuela.