Chavismo denounces a food blockade over Trump's sanctions

• Venezuela: Donald Trump hits Nicolás Maduro with measures similar to those applied against Cuba, Iran or North Korea
• Venezuela.The Government of Nicolás Maduro describes the US blockade as "economic terrorism"

Chavismo accuses the coup of the new White House sanctions against the regime of Nicolás Maduro . Yesterday he reacted with a small march in the center of Caracas, which was hardly attended by hundreds of people , mostly public employees, and was led by the radical Diosdado Cabello, who said that "the aggression is not against the Chavez any more, but against all Venezuelans. "

In parallel, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said on Twitter that a ship carrying 25,000 tons of soy cake for food production in Venezuela was retained on the Panama Canal , something attributed to the Washington sanctions that, among other things, they prohibit that they prohibit the properties of Venezuela from being "transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn or negotiated."

" Venezuela requires the UN to stop this serious aggression of the government of President Donald Trump against our country that constitutes a massive violation of the human rights of the entire Venezuelan population by trying to prevent their right to food," Rodriguez added on Twitter.

The European Union recalled yesterday that it opposes the extraterritorial application of restrictive measures such as those imposed by the United States on Venezuela.

"Our position is known, we oppose the extraterritorial application of unilateral measures ," community spokesman Carlos Martín Ruiz de Gordejuela said during the daily press conference of the European Commission, who made it clear that the EU "does not comment" on the latest sanctions Americans to Caracas.

The opposition, meanwhile, celebrated the success of the International Conference for Democracy in Venezuela, organized by the Lima Group on Tuesday in Peru, which considered a crucial step to increase the siege on Maduro.

"The meeting in Lima was unpublished, never in the history of Latin America there was a meeting with so many nations supporting democracy . Human Rights and the fight against terrorism have no border or limits, all countries must reject it because it is a threat, "said the Guaidó ambassador to the Lima Group, Julio Borges.

In Caracas it is still early to feel the effects of the sanctions, which should exclude the importation of food and medicine, two goods that are scarce in a country that no longer produces almost anything. Supermarkets dawned quietly, with no evidence of nervous purchases , although several gas stations were closed and others had small rows of vehicles.

"I closed because I have not received gasoline for two days and new cars have not arrived (trucks that supply it)," said Jesús Escobar, an employee of a station in the east of the capital.

The director of the Ecoanalítica firm, Asdrúbal Oliverios, said that it is still too early to determine the real effect of the sanctions, especially in the private sector, which imports a good part of the food and medicine consumed by Venezuelans.

Payments in cash

"The perception of risk of making transactions with Venezuela is raised, especially given the difficulty of the financial system to discriminate whether or not an operation benefits the regime. For its part, it will increase the propensity of the Maduro government to carry out more transactions for the sale of crude and metals in cash, especially in euros, with all the opacity that implies, "he said.

The opposition also went out to protest, but against the arrest of Deputy Juan Requesens, who yesterday served a year imprisoned in the dreaded dungeons of the intelligence service, for his alleged involvement in the drone attack on Maduro during a military act.

"Juan is a political prisoner, imprisoned for thinking differently, imprisoned for having a hard verb, which criticizes and opposes oppression. We cannot faint, they are not days to lower our heads, we are closer than ever to change and we are convinced that this is not going to happen, "the vice president of Parliament, Stalin González, said from the rally before traveling back to Barbados, where he will begin today a sixth round of talks between the government and the opposition, sponsored by Norway.

The representatives of Maduro and Guaidó will face each other again today, amid the tension generated by the new sanctions. The center of the debate, according to sources with direct knowledge of the negotiation, will be an electoral schedule to overcome the political crisis . The opposition insists on early presidential elections, with international observation and the renewal of electoral power, controlled by the government.

Chavismo, meanwhile, has demanded that the United States remove all sanctions to move forward, sources said.

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