U.S. considers sanctions prohibiting payment processing services in Venezuela

The U.S. Treasury, White House, and other administration officials are debating new sanctions that would prohibit financial firms like Visa and Mastercard from processing transactions in Venezuela, Bloomberg reports. According to Bloomberg, no decisions have been made, but the goal of the sanction is to "squeeze Maduro and his allies in the military, as well as other connected, upper middle-class Venezuelans who have access to bank accounts and credit cards." The sanctions could also impact "oil, power, aviation and agricultural companies that engage in business in Venezuela."

More recently, The U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned EvryoFinance Mosnarbak, a jointly owned bank by Russian and Venezuelan state-owned companies, for being the "primary international financial institution willing to finance the Petro."