National Security Advisor John Bolton told an audience at Miami Dade College that the sanctions would particularly target Venezuela's gold sector, which "has been used as a bastion to finance illicit activities, to fill its coffers and to support criminal groups."
Bolton, a longtime foreign policy hawk, said the elections of far-right Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and conservative Ivan Duque in Colombia were "positive signs for the future of the region" that demonstrate a regional commitment to free markets and "accountable governance."
"The troika of tyranny in this hemisphere will not endure forever," Bolton said in prepared remarks, referring to Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
"Like all oppressive regimes and ideologies, it too will meet its demise."
The new sanctions against Venezuela came in the form of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
The sanctions on Venezuela's gold take aim at an important revenue source for the regime of President Nicolas Maduro, which relies on "corrupt or deceptive" transactions, Bolton said.
He also announced the State Department has added new sanctions on more than two dozen entities owned or controlled by the Cuban military and intelligence services.
Bolton's "troika of tyranny" label is reminiscent of George W. Bush calling Iran, Iraq and
North Korea an "axis of evil" in 2002.In the months after, Bolton, who at the time was undersecretary of state, named other countries including Cuba as being worthy of the list.
The leaders of Venezuela and Nicaragua are "desperate" autocrats who had joined Cuban counterparts in the "same oppressive behavior of unjust imprisonment, torture and murder," Bolton said.