White House seeks to soothe relations with Venezuela

Last month, President Obama signed an executive order that called for economic sanctions against Venezuela. The sanctions were specifically against 7 Venezuelan officials who are believed to have practiced human rights violations. The executive order stated that Venezuela was a threat to The Unites States national security. The language of the executive order angered the President of Venezuela, Mr. Maduro. A spokesperson for the white house responded to the situation by saying that the white house had to designate the situation as a security threat in order to pass the sanctions, and that Venezuela is not a serious threat to national security. Now the Obama administration hopes that President Maduro will be forgiving when Latin American officials (including Cuba for the first time) meet with President Obama in the upcoming week. 

Josh Hubbs

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/world/americas/white-house-seeks-to-soothe-relations-with-venezuela.html?ref=topics&_r=0