The United States announced new individual sanctions Wednesday on more than 20 officials aligned with Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, to put pressure on Maduro to accept the results of Venezuela’s July presidential election,

The United States has imposed sanctions on an additional 21 allies of President Nicolás Maduro, accusing them of supporting and carrying out acts of repression in the wake of July's disputed presidential election in Venezuela.

The US sanctioned 21 officials it said supported Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s effort to defy results of an election that the country’s opposition and Washington say he lost.