dailycaller
Andrew Follett
Energy and Science Reporter
2:32 PM 08/02/2017
[excerpt]
http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/02/trump-expected-to-ratchet-up-venezuela-sanctions/Energy analysts and investors expect President Donald Trump will ratchet up sanctions against socialist Venezuela to include the country’s oil industry.
Under the direction of Trump, the U.S. government sanctioned embattled President Nicolas Maduro Monday after he held a vote Sunday to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution in a way that opposition parties say makes the country effectively a socialist dictatorship. The U.S. government hasn’t yet sanctioned the oil-dependent nation’s energy sector, but analysts say those penalties are probably on their way.
“Maduro is not going to be deterred, so the question is what happens when the new constituent assembly starts dismantling the existing institutions or we have further bloodshed,” Helima Croft, head of commodity strategy at the energy investment firm RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC Tuesday. “I think we will start to see escalating economic measures.”
