On 6 January, the US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams announced that Washington was considering to apply additional sanctions - personal and economic - against Venezuela "to bring more pressure on the regime."
This came following the election of the Speaker of the National Assembly, the post which was claimed by Juan Guaido, who declared himself the country's interim president last January, and lawmaker Luis Parra. Guaido, who accused police of preventing him from entering the National Assembly building in Caracas to take part in the vote, called Parra's election illegitimate, saying that the session was not attended by the required minimum of lawmakers.
