Venezuelan vice president is blacklisted by US for 'drug trafficking'

Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami has been blacklisted by the United States as a drug trafficker.

The US government is to impose financial sanctions accusing him of facilitating shipments of narcotics of more than 1,000 kilograms from Venezuela to Mexico and the US on multiple occasions.

Venezuela’s government has not yet responded but President Nicolas Maduro has in the past accused Washington of trying to smear his administration.

The US Treasury also targeted 13 companies owned or controlled by an associate of El Aissami, Lopez Bello, along with other parties that are part of an alleged international network spanning the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Britain, the United States and Venezuela.