The United States officially labelled Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami a drug trafficker, naming him to its narcotics "kingpin" sanctions list. 

El Aissami, a veteran politician who became the South American country's vice president on January 4, was listed on the US Treasury's narcotics trafficker sanctions page along with a top associate, businessman Samark Jose Lopez Bello.

The sanctions ban any US citizens and entitites from doing business with either man and freeze any US assets they have.