CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's vice president is shrugging off U.S. sanctions identifying him as a major international drug trafficker.
In a series of messages posted on social media Tuesday, Tareck El Aissami said the "miserable and defamatory aggression" by the U.S. won't distract him from his job of deepening the revolution started by the late Hugo Chavez.
The Trump administration on Monday froze the U.S. assets of El Aissami and a businessman it said was acting as his front man for their role facilitating multiple cocaine shipments from Venezuela.
El Aissami is the highest-ranking Venezuelan official to ever be sanctioned by the U.S. His designation as a drug kingpin is bound to ratchet up tensions between the two countries.