Canada imposes new sanctions as Venezuelan President Maduro sworn in despite global condemnation

Canada has imposed new sanctions against 14 Venezuelan officials as President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in Friday to serve a third six-year term, extending his increasingly repressive rule until 2031.

This, despite protests and credible evidence that his opponent won the election.

Venezuela's legislative palace, where he was sworn in and delivered a fiery speech, was heavily guarded by police, military and intelligence officers. Crowds of people, many sporting pro-Maduro T-shirts, gathered in adjacent streets and a nearby plaza.

Maduro accused the opposition of trying to turn his inauguration into a "world war," and said the faction's failure to stop the inauguration was "a great Venezuelan victory." He accused external powers of "attacking" Venezuela, specifically the U.S. government, and promised to guarantee "peace and national sovereignty."

"Today more than ever I feel the weight of commitment, the power that I represent, the power that the constitution grants me," he said. "I have not been made president by the government of the United States, nor by the pro-imperialist governments of Latin America."

The opposition collected tally sheets from more than 80 per cent of electronic voting machines following the July 28 election, posted the tallies online and said they show opposition candidate Edmundo González won twice as many votes as Maduro. The U.S.-based Carter Center, which observed the election on the government's invitation, declared the opposition-published tallies legitimate.

Other election experts that the government allowed to witness the vote said polling records posted online by the opposition appear to exhibit all of the original security features. 

On Friday, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced new sanctions against Venezuelan officials. They target 14 current and former senior officials of the Venezuelan government, "who have engaged in activities that have directly or indirectly supported human rights violations in Venezuela," according to a news release.

These include the repression of protests following the election.

"Maduro's shameless actions demonstrate that democracy and the rule of law cannot be taken for granted. We will not tolerate the erosion of the democratic process or the repression of citizens seeking to express their rights," Joly said in a news release.

"Canada has stood by, and will continue to stand by, the people of Venezuela and their desire to live in a peaceful and democratic society."

Canada has now imposed sanctions against 131 Venezuelan individuals in total.

The European Union also imposed sanctions on 15 top Venezuelan officials who had a role in the country's 2024 election, including the president and vice president of Venezuela's Supreme Court, the electoral agency and others. The 27-nation bloc said those officials have put the nation's democracy at risk.

The U.S. Treasury Department also slapped a new round of sanctions on Venezuelan officials, including the president of Venezuela's state oil company, Maduro's transportation minister and state-owned airline, among others.