Venezuela’s National Assembly has passed a law enacting harsh penalties for those who support or help finance blockades and acts of piracy, including up to 20 years in prison.The legislation was passed on Tuesday after the United States seized oil tankers linked to Venezuela, acts that the government of President Nicolas Maduro has denounced as lawless acts of piracy.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“This law seeks to protect the national economy and avoid the erosion of living standards for the population,” lawmaker Giuseppe Alessandrello said, while presenting the law before the National Assembly, controlled by Maduro’s governing party.The US has carried out a series of increasingly aggressive measures over the past several months, deploying sizeable military forces to Latin America, seizing oil tankers, killing dozens of people in military strikes on what it says are drug-trafficking boats, and threatening land strikes on Venezuela itself.The legality of some of those acts, such as the seizure of oil tankers in international waters, is contested. Others, such as the strikes against alleged drug traffickers, are widely considered illegal.“We are in the presence of a power that acts outside of international law, demanding that Venezuelans vacate our country and hand it over,” Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s representative at the United Nations, told the Security Council (UNSC) during a meeting on Tuesday.“The threat is not Venezuela,” he added. “The threat is the US government.”China and Russia also criticised US actions. Russia’s ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said that the Trump administration was creating a “template” for the use of force that could be used against other Latin American countries in the future. Advertisement “We saw clear support for Venezuela from Russia and China, but also from Colombia, and even from some other member states, talking about how t …
