{"id":1621584,"date":"2024-04-20T18:33:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T18:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/?p=149892"},"modified":"2024-04-20T18:33:37","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T18:33:37","slug":"us-reimposes-illegal-and-inhumane-oil-sanctions-on-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/04\/20\/us-reimposes-illegal-and-inhumane-oil-sanctions-on-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"US Reimposes Illegal and Inhumane Oil Sanctions on Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

A minute after midnight on April 18, the US reimposed coercive economic measures designed<\/a> to cripple Venezuela\u2019s oil industry. Later that day, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a new sanctions bill on Nicaragua. Meanwhile, Cuba protested<\/a> the US\u2019s six-decade blockade<\/a> as talks resumed between the two countries on migration.<\/p>\n

At a time of challenged<\/a> US dollar hegemony and questioning of the neoliberal order, the three countries striving to build socialist societies in the Americas pose a \u201cthreat of a good example.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on April 18,\u00a0 Biden announced<\/a> new sanctions on Iran. Globally, Washington has imposed sanctions on some forty countries<\/a>. Because these unilateral coercive measures are a form of collective punishment, they are considered illegal<\/a> under international law.<\/p>\n

Even the US Congressional Research Service recognizes<\/a> sanctions have \u201cfailed\u201d to achieve their regime-change goals. Yet the empire\u2019s perverse response is to do more of the same rather than reverse course. \u201cOnce they are imposed, they become politically impossible to lift without getting something in return,\u201d observed<\/a> The New York Times.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Times<\/em> runs cover for US sanctions on Venezuela<\/strong><\/p>\n

The empire\u2019s \u201cnewspaper of record\u201d bewailed<\/a> that Uncle Sam had \u201cno choice\u201d but to reign more misery on the people of Venezuela even though sanctions do not achieve their purported purpose.<\/p>\n

Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, according to the Times<\/em>, had \u201cpromised to take steps toward holding free elections\u2026 with the lifting of some American sanctions as an incentive. But the ink was hardly dry before his government upheld a ban on running for office that had been placed on Mar\u00eda Corina Machado.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, the Barbados agreement, negotiated last October, said nothing about Ms. Machado, who had been proscribed from holding public office for fifteen years back in 2015 for financial and treasonous misconduct<\/a>. There was little chance that the notorious<\/a> politico would have her conviction<\/a> reversed by Venezuela\u2019s supreme court which, as in the US, is an independent branch of government not under the dictates of the president.<\/p>\n

The US knew this<\/a> when the agreement was signed, but has subsequently used it as an excuse to delegitimize<\/a> the upcoming Venezuelan presidential election. Why? One reason may be that the US Intelligence Community\u2019s Annal Threat Assessment<\/em> anticipates<\/a> that Maduro will win the contest on July 28.<\/p>\n

The article correctly reports that Machado was the \u201coverwhelming victor\u201d of a primary, but omits that her incredulous 93% margin in a crowded and highly contested field raised doubts about its credibility. Another leading opposition figure in the primary accused<\/a> the process of being a fraud.<\/p>\n

The primary was held privately, not by the official election authority as other primaries were. Machado\u2019s own NGO, one that had received funds<\/a> from the CIA front group, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), had administered the primary. And after Machado was declared the winner, the ballots were destroyed<\/a>. This news, apparently, was not \u201cfit to print\u201d in the Times. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Times<\/em> laments the downsides of US sanctions\u2026to the US<\/strong><\/p>\n

The article raises a concern dear to the Times,<\/em> which is that the \u201cimmigration crisis,\u201d precipitated by the US sanctions, pose \u201ca major political problem for Mr. Biden during an election year.\u201d In addition, the Times <\/em>noted, the sanctions \u201cpushed Venezuela further into the arms of Russia and China.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article, concluding with a hackneyed observation that \u201cdictators do dictatorship,\u201d gripes that \u201cUS sanctions can do great harm but rarely delivers the political results that American officials seek.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the US didn\u2019t completely close the door on Venezuelan oil industry for select corporations in the US and abroad. The new policy, while revoking<\/a> the general license, will allow companies to seek individual licenses. The change, the Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a> noted, \u201cis likely to benefit large oil companies with lobbying power in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

More distortions<\/strong><\/p>\n

A second Times <\/em>editorial on Venezuela appeared the next day, <\/em>this time masquerading<\/a> as a news story. \u201cOne opposition party was allowed to officially register\u201d in the presidential race, the article reads, inferring that there is only one opposition candidate on the ballot, when Reuters<\/em> reports<\/a> there are eleven others.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Venezuelans living abroad,\u201d carps the Times,<\/em> \u201chave been unable to register to vote because of expensive and cumbersome requirements.\u201d Unreported is the biggest barrier for Venezuelans living in the US to vote remotely in their country\u2019s election. Washington does not recognize the legitimate Venezuelan government, which means no functioning consular services and, therefore, no way to vote.<\/p>\n

The Times<\/em> reporter also complained that deportation of Venezuelan migrants were suspended \u201cwithout explanation.\u201d While the newspaper\u2019s articles are protected behind a paywall, one would think that staff would have access to a February Times <\/em>report<\/a> that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez warned that the flights would be discontinued in response to the US\u2019s reimposition of sanctions on Venezuelan gold sales.<\/p>\n

Times <\/em>acknowledges the purpose of US sanctions<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>The Times<\/em> at least no longer blames the \u201ceconomic free fall\u201d of the Venezuelan economy on the socialist government but fully admits the economic sanctions have \u201ccrippled the country\u2019s crucial oil industry.\u201d Further, the Times <\/em>acknowledges that the Biden administration\u2019s action, \u201ccould carry significant consequences for the future of Venezuela\u2019s democracy, for its economy, and for migration in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, the Times<\/em> reported<\/a> that US sanctions, \u201cintensified\u2026the single largest peacetime collapse of any country in at least 45 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, the Times<\/em> implicitly acknowledged that the sanctions were never to promote democracy, but were \u201cmeant to force the Maduro government from power.\u201d An earlier 2019 Times <\/em>opinion piece included the suggestion<\/a> that while sanctions \u201cmay make the humanitarian crisis worse\u201d they are still desirable as a \u201csource of leverage to remove Maduro.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s response<\/strong><\/p>\n

The week before the oil sanctions were reimposed, Venezuelans celebrated<\/a> the anniversary of the defeat of the 2002 unsuccessful 48-hour US-backed coup. Neither the tactics \u2013 the continuing coup attempts<\/a> \u2013 nor the US policy of regime-change have changed.\u00a0 The Venezuelan president\u2019s response<\/a>: \u201cWe are going to keep moving forward with a license or without a license\u2026we are not your colony.\u201d<\/p>The post US Reimposes Illegal and Inhumane Oil Sanctions on Venezuela<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n

This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A minute after midnight on April 18, the US reimposed coercive economic measures designed to cripple Venezuela\u2019s oil industry. Later that day, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a new sanctions bill on Nicaragua. Meanwhile, Cuba protested the US\u2019s six-decade blockade as talks resumed between the two countries on migration. At a time of [\u2026]<\/p>\n

The post US Reimposes Illegal and Inhumane Oil Sanctions on Venezuela<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[432,731,6207,55,36,59],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1621584"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1621619,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621584\/revisions\/1621619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1621584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1621584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1621584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}