WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States issued sanctions on Tuesday against five citizens of Venezuela, according to the Treasury Department website, increasing pressure on the government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro. 
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Venezuela was elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday with 105 votes and a round of applause, despite fierce lobbying against it by the United States and rights groups, and the late entry of Costa Rica as competition. 
The Trump administration is readying several new salvos of sanctions on Venezuela and its regional enablers as top U.S. officials work on a range of fronts to topple the regime of Nicolás Maduro, according to the U.S. special representative for Venezuela, who told the Washington Free Beacon that despite frustrations and setbacks, the United States remains steadfast in its support of exiled opposition leader Juan Guaidó. 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States imposed sanctions on Tuesday on three people and 16 groups it says helped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government profit from food aid in the economically struggling country, the Treasury Department said. 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will outline Washington's plans to help rebuild Venezuela in the event President Nicolas Maduro leaves - at a conference in Lima next week, a senior U.S. administration official said on Friday. 
Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday gave Max Blumenthal, an anti-Israel activist and son of longtime Hillary Clinton adviser, and other activists a replica of Bolivar's sword. 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on 10 people and 13 groups in a food subsidy scheme that lined the pockets of leader Nicolas Maduro, his stepsons and others while ordinary Venezuelans suffer food shortages, the U.S. Treasury said. 
Freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) on Saturday boasted about her fiery exchange with U.S. special envoy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams earlier this year, saying it gave her an opportunity to speak on behalf of others who had her "lived experience" by shouting in his face. 
In an interview with Univision, Carmen Yulín Cruz, mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2020 candidate for Puerto Rican governor, and co-chair of Senator Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign, had harsh words for the United States government but declined to condemn Cuba or Venezuela for their wrongdoings. 
Russia has dispatched several warships, including one of its newer missile frigates, to Cuba in a bid to bolster the floundering regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, according to a senior administration official. 