US revokes visas for 2 Venezuelan officials, their families

WASHINGTON – The United States is imposing travel bans on two chiefs of Venezuelan security agencies and their families, accusing the high-level officials of involvement in gross violations of human rights.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Rafael Enrique Bastardo Mendoza and Iván Rafael Hernández Dala have been implicated for human rights violations and abuses and the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition. Bastardo Mendoza heads police special forces while Hernández Dala leads military counter-intelligence.

The travel ban includes the wives and children of both officials, whom the U.S. had sanctioned financially back in February.

The Trump administration has already included President Nicolás Maduro and more than 100 Venezuelan officials and insiders on its sanctions list.