The European Union is preparing sanctions on several top Venezuelan officials amid mounting international fears over the political and economic crises that have plunged the country into violence and looting.

At least seven senior figures, including the country’s interior minister, Nestor Riverol, and the chief justice, Maikel Moreno, are set to be hit with asset freezes and travel bans as early as next week, according to reports.

The EU move is aimed at raising pressure on the government of Nicolas Maduro to negotiate a solution to the crisis enveloping the oil-rich country, amid a deepening crackdown on the opposition and growing unrest among a population pushed to the brink by desperate shortages of food, cash and medicines.

“The government has crushed the opposition and is guilty of human rights abuses, so we believe it is time to send a strong message,” an EU diplomat involved in the sanctions talks told Reuters.

Several regions of Venezuela are suffering a wave of looting that has seen hungry mobs ransack businesses and, in one case in the state of Merida, slaughter cattle grazing in a field. At least seven people have been killed in the latest unrest, sparked by meat shortages at Christmas, which businesspeople fear could spread to the capital, Caracas.