...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...has extended its sanctions against crisis-hit Venezuela until November 2019, ramping up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro's government.
The bloc had imposed an arms embargo in November 2017 and added various officials to the sanctions list over the course of this year, most recently in June in response to Maduro's re-election during polls marred by an opposition boycott and claims of vote-rigging.
The extension on Tuesday came for what the EU said were human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal
liberty...
violations and undermining of democracy and the rule of law under Maduro.
There was no immediate comment from Venezuela's socialist government.
FINANCIAL WOES
Once one of Latin America's wealthiest countries, Venezuela has been struggling with a hyper-inflationary economic meltdown in the wake of the crash of oil prices in 2014.
Almost two million people have fled the oil-rich country since 2015 due to chronic food and medicine shortages, according to the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...