![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Maria-Clara-1765407719.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 15 Dec 202515 Dec 2025<\/p>\n
Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n
share2<\/p>\n
Venezuela\u2019s government has lashed out at the European Council over its decision to renew sanctions against the South American country until 2027, calling the measures \u201ca complete failure\u201d.<\/p>\n
The sanctions, first introduced in 2017, include an embargo on arms shipments to Venezuela, as well as travel bans and asset freezes on individuals linked to state repression.<\/p>\n
Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
In a statement shared by Minister of Foreign Affairs Yvan Gil Pinto, Caracas said the sanctions are coercive and contrary to international law, adding that they underscore the European Union\u2019s lack of autonomy on the global stage.<\/p>\n
On Monday morning, the European Council announced its plans to renew sanctions on Venezuela until January 10, 2027, citing \u201cpersistent actions undermining democracy and the rule of law\u201d and human rights violations under the administration of President Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n
The punitive measures include an embargo on weapons and military equipment, a ban on exporting equipment to Venezuela that could be used for internal repression \u2013 such as light weapons, ammunition, and surveillance technology \u2013 and travel bans affecting government officials, military personnel, and judges linked to human rights violations<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018Futile\u2019 sanctions<\/p>\n According to the European Union, 69 people were subject to asset freezes and travel bans under the sanctions as of January this year.<\/p>\n The European Council said the sanctions will remain in place until the Venezuelan government makes \u201ctangible progress on human rights\u201d and the rule of law and takes steps towards genuine dialogue and a \u201cdemocratic transition\u201d.<\/p>\n But the Venezuelan government rejected the sanctions as \u201cfutile\u201d,\u00a0 describing them as part of \u201can erratic foreign policy lacking autonomy\u201d and slamming \u201cthe European Union\u2019s growing irrelevance as an international actor\u201d.<\/p>\n The EU\u2019s sanctions renewal comes amid a mounting military threat by the administration of US President Donald Trump, which has massed forces off the Venezuelan coast and threatened land attacks on the country. The White House also announced financial sanctions on three of Maduro\u2019s nephews and six oil tankers and shipping firms linked to them last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n Experts say the EU\u2019s sanctions differ from those of the US, as they have a political focus rather than targeting the vital oil sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThe European Union sanctions have a specific, stated political objective: to pressure people in the regime, not the population of Venezuela, and to preserve humanitarian and diplomatic channels and signal disapproval of human rights violations and the weakening of democracy,\u201d Vitelio Brustolin, adjunct professor at Columbia University\u2019s School of International and Public Affairs, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caracas criticises renewed European Union sanctions, asserting they highlight the bloc\u2019s lack of autonomy on global matters. Published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12633,32,35,3274,12,37887,8518,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-635188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-business-and-economy","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-energy","11":"tag-latin-america","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-nicolas-maduro","14":"tag-venezuela","15":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115726970325795818","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}