EU Warns Maduro Lacks Legitimacy and Expands Sanctions List

The 15 new individuals sanctioned are members of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela (CNE), the judiciary and the security forces, the Council of Europe said in a statement.  The United Kingdom on Friday joined the sanctions announced by the European Union (EU) against Nicolás Maduro by publishing a new batch of fifteen sanctioned people associated with the Venezuelan government, including the president of the Supreme Court, Caryslia Rodríguez (pictured below), while calling that presidency “illegitimate.”

Venezuela’s majority opposition, grouped in the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), denounced this Friday that Nicolás Maduro has consummated a “coup d’état” after the Parliament, controlled by Chavismo, swore him in as president for the period 2025-2031, considering that the winner of the elections was its leader, Edmundo González Urrutia.  “With the usurpation of power by Nicolás Maduro of the Presidency of the Republic, supported by brute force and ignoring the popular sovereignty forcefully expressed on July 28, a coup d’état against the rights of the Venezuelan people has been consummated,” said the PUD in a statement published in X.