Yoris Prevented From Registering As Candidate In Venezuela Election

Bloomberg reporting that Venezuela opposition figure, Corina Yoris, has been prevented from registering as an opposition candidate to challenge Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro in the July 28 presidential elections.

• The Wall Street Journal noted after barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado stepped aside on Friday: "The selection of Yoris—announced by Machado on Friday, surprising much of the country and the opposition’s international backers—is seen by many analysts as a masterstroke," although adding "if she isn’t first banned from participating, as the regime and its supporters are threatening."
• If Yoris is barred from the ballot, it would further imperil the easing of US sanctions on the Maduro regime and Venezuela's energy sector which are contingent on making concrete steps towards free Democratic elections.
• White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters on Friday that the US is "deeply concerned" by arrest of two close aides to Machado last week but the US is "still willing to consider sanctions relief" on the Maduro regime in April, "if they meet the obligations they made in the fall in Barbados."
• Kirby added: "Reports of arrests like this certainly give us pause to think about how serious they are about meeting those obligations."