Obama declares Venezuela a national security threat

Washington targets seven officials with sanctions as US president signs executive order calling Caracas security threat.

US President Barack Obama has issued an executive order declaring Venezuela a national security threat, and slapped sanctions on seven officials.

"Venezuelan officials past and present who violate the human rights of Venezuelan citizens and engage in acts of public corruption will not be welcome here, and we now have the tools to block their assets and their use of US financial systems," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement on Monday.

"We are deeply concerned by the Venezuelan government's efforts to escalate intimidation of its political opponents. Venezuela's problems cannot be solved by criminalising dissent," the statement said.

Venezuela's foreign ministry recalled its top diplomat in the US for "immediate" consultations after the announcement and said it would respond shortly to the new US moves.

"We will soon make public Venezuela's response to these declarations," Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez told reporters.

It marks another downturn in relations between Washington and Caracas. Just last week President Nicolas Maduro announced measures to limit the number of US diplomats in Venezuela.

The two countries have not had full diplomatic representation since 2008, when late socialist leader Hugo Chavez expelled then-US Ambassador Patrick Duddy. Washington at the time responded by expelling Venezuelan envoy Bernardo Alvarez.

Freedom of expression

The White House said that the executive order targeted people whose actions undermined democratic processes or institutions, had committed acts of violence or abuse of human rights, were involved in prohibiting or penalising freedom of expression, or were government officials involved in public corruption.

The seven individuals named in the order would have their property and interests in the US blocked or frozen and they would be denied entry into the US. American citizens would also be prohibited from doing business with them.

The White House called on Venezuela to release all political prisoners, including "dozens of students," and warned against blaming Washington for its problems.

"We've seen many times that the Venezuelan government tries to distract from its own actions by blaming the United States or other members of the international community for events inside Venezuela," Earnest said in the statement.

"These efforts reflect a lack of seriousness on the part of the Venezuelan government to deal with the grave situation it faces."