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Senator Rubio: We'll use mid-term gains to punish Venezuela

RIGHT-WING US Senator Marco Rubio believes that Republican gains in mid-term elections will assist his efforts to impose sanctions on Venezuela.

The Florida Republican is a sponsor of legislation targeting officials guilty of committing alleged human rights abuses.

He told an audience in the Colombian capital Bogota on Wednesday that he welcomed the Obama administration’s decision to impose a travel ban on senior Venezuelan officials involved in countering violent anti-government protests earlier this year.

However, Mr Rubio expressed his hope that “we can achieve something much stronger than what the White House has done so far.”

The Obama administration argues that additional action is unnecessary, could hurt US relations with Latin America and would provide a pretext to divert attention from Venezuela’s economic problems.

Mr Rubio complained that the sanctions bill would have already been approved but for one senator’s fears for jobs in her constituency at a refinery owned by a subsidiary of Venezuela’s national oil company.

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