UPDATE - US sanctions 6 Venezuelan officials for aid blockage

ADDS VISA REVOCATIONS; ABRAMS TPS COMMENTS IN GRAPHS 7-9

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The U.S. on Friday blacklisted six Venezuelan security officials for participating in last weekend's efforts to block humanitarian aid from entering the country.

Among those sanctioned Friday are the commanding general of the Venezuelan National Guard, Richard Jesus Lopez Vargas, and Jesus Maria Mantilla Oliveros, the commander of Venezuela's Strategic Integral Defense Region, or REDI, Guayana.

"We are sanctioning members of Maduro’s security forces in response to the reprehensible violence, tragic deaths, and unconscionable torching of food and medicine destined for sick and starving Venezuelans," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement, referring to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

At least four people were killed and 200 others injured during anti-government protests on the Colombian border aimed at securing the entry of humanitarian aid into Venezuela last Saturday.

The U.S. has been supporting Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president in January amid a crippling economic crisis in the country. Dozens of nations have lined up behind Guaido as Maduro insists he is the target of a U.S.-orchestrated coup.

"The United States strongly supports the efforts of Interim President Juan Guaidó, and Treasury will continue to target Maduro loyalists prolonging the suffering of the victims of this man-made humanitarian crisis,” Mnuchin added.

The U.S. also revoked a number of visas belonging to Venezuelan officials and their families, Elliott Abrams, President Donald Trump's special envoy for Venezuela, told reporters at the State Department.

Abrams did not specify how many visas have been revoked or who they were given to, citing stringent legal restrictions on publicly speaking about visas, but he warned of additional actions on pro-Maduro figures and their families.

“We continue to look at close associates of Maduro who, with their families, have visas to the United States,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out military intervention in the Latin American nation, insisting, alongside his top officials, that all options are on the table.

Asked about extending immigration protections to Venezuelans, Abrams said the U.S. is mulling the issue but said no decision has yet been made.

Washington announced Monday it is sending $56 million in humanitarian aid to Venezuelans who have fled the country, and that will include shelter, food and medical services.

Venezuela has been rocked by protests since Jan. 10 when Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition.

The country has been wracked by an economic and humanitarian crisis that has deepened as the global price of oil, Venezuela's chief economic driver, has nosedived. Basic commodities have become scarce and hyperinflated.

The International Monetary Fund warned this week of Venezuela's economic crisis.

“Venezuela is going through a humanitarian crisis, an economic crisis, hyperinflation and a debt crisis,” the fund's Western Hemisphere Director Alejandro Werner told Bloomberg. “We have seen a combination of these things in many nations, but seeing the four of these things together makes for an extremely complicated case.”