US sanctions Nicaragua oil company over Venezuela ties

Washington has imposed sanctions on Albanisa, a private Nicaraguan company that trades in Venezuelan oil. National security advisor John Bolton announced the sanctions on Wednesday, calling Albanisa a joint venture with Venezuela’s PdVSA and a “slush fund of the corrupt regime of Daniel Ortega,” Nicaragua’s president. The US blocked PdVSA’s assets earlier this week in a bid to engineer regime change in Caracas and force the government of President Nicolas Maduro to accept the self-proclaimed and US-backed Juan Guaido as president.