President Nicolas Maduro: U.S. bars 2 Venezuelan officials

In the latest action to pressure Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro into stepping down, U.S. says it will bar two Venezuelan officials accused of human rights violations from traveling to the U.S.

The U.S. State Department said on Friday in a statement that the two officials, Rafael Mendoza, the commander of Venezuela’s special forces, and Ivan Dala, the Chief of Counterintelligence, had committed “gross violations of human rights.”

The U.S. imposed financial sanctions on the two officials, as well as three other people, in February.

The State Department’s move allows it to revoke any visas the two officials, their spouses and minor children may have and renders them ineligible for travel into the U.S.