When the people of Venezuela re-elected
Nicolás Maduro as the President of Venezuela
on May 20, 2018, they knew that this would
mean more foreign sanctions would be
coming. Immediately following the election,
the governments of the U.S. and Canada
followed through on their threats and did just
that; imposed further sanctions in an attempt
force the overthrow of the independent
and democratically elected government of
Venezuela.
Then, on June 25, 2018, the 28 countries
of the European Union (E.U.) added 11
Venezuelans to their list of persons facing an
asset freeze and travel ban. In their decision to
impose further sanctions, the E.U. claims that
the “listed are responsible for human rights
violations and for undermining democracy
and the rule of law in Venezuela,” for which
they provide no evidence. They also claim that
the May 20 elections “were neither free nor
fair and their outcome lacked any credibility
as the electoral process did not ensure the
necessary guarantees for them to be inclusive
and democratic,” for which they also provide
zero proof.
In response, the government of Venezuela
issued a statement exposing the shameful
intentions of the European Union. The
statement declares that imposing sanctions,
“constitutes a clear interference in the
sovereign affairs of our country, by adopting
alleged restrictive measures contrary to
international law” And that “The European
Union undermines political peace in
Venezuela by meddling in its internal affairs
and endeavoring to apply coercive measures
that undermine tranquility and dialogue
between Venezuelans.”
The Venezuelans on this list include the
new Vice President of Venezuela, and leader
of the Bolivarian revolutionary process,
Delcy Rodríguez, who they have accused
of undermining “democracy and the rule
of law in Venezuela.” In response, Delcy
Rodríguez sent out three powerful Tweets
(@DRodriguez_en), directed right at the
European Union and Federica Mogherini, the
High Representative of the E.U. for Foreign
Affairs and Security Policy.
“1. Personal message to the European
Union vis-a-vis its illegal measures: As
a Venezuelan woman committed to the
defence of my Homeland, I ratify my
determination to defend the rights to Peace,
democracy, national independence and selfdetermination;
rights that I have as a citizen
of this great country. 2. No threat, arbitrary
extortion measure of blackmail will distract
me from my commitment to the history of
freedom, dignity and sovereignty inherited by
Simon Bolivar! The old imperial world will
never yield my determination as a Venezuelan
to love the Nation where I was born. 3. I
take this opportunity to authorize Senior
Representative @FedericaMog [Federica
Mogherini] to dispose, on my behalf, of these
alleged assets, which don’t exist, indeed! And
assign them to the migration crisis provoked
with your belligerent, racist and xenophobic
policies!”
Why is the E.U. Targeting Venezuela?
The day that the sanctions were announced,
right-wing U.S. Senator Marco Rubio took
to Twitter to “congratulate” the E.U. for their
illegal actions.
However, contrary to the claims of the U.S.,
Canada and the E.U., the May 20 election
was free and fair. President Nicolas Maduro
was re-elected with 68% of the vote, in a
fully-electronic and audited election using
an election process that has been declared by
former U.S. President Jimmy Carter as “the
best in the world.”
In fact, what they are angry about is that
the victory of President Maduro has put the
revolutionary movement in Venezuela in a
better position. This has made imperialist
governments, like the United States and their
allies, more afraid of what is going to happen
in Venezuela. They are increasingly concerned
about their interests and investments in
Venezuela and therefore are working harder
to force the government of Venezuela to take
on more capitalist measures.
This is the point of the sanctions: to tighten
the screws against the Venezuelan economy
until the government and the people of
Venezuela cave into the pressure and hardship,
and Venezuela is forced to abandon the
Bolivarian revolutionary process. Imperialist
governments want to stop the government of
Venezuela from moving to the left and taking
more radical and revolutionary measures
that strengthen Venezuela’s independence,
sovereignty and influence in the region.
20 Years of Revolution - 20 Years of
Imperialist Attack
Since the election of Comandante Hugo
Chavez in 1998, Venezuela has pursued a
path that is independent of the interests
and policies of the U.S. government and
their allies in Latin America. Inspired by
the nearly 60 years of the Cuban revolution,
the revolutionary government of Venezuela
has taken a stand for their sovereignty and
self-determination, and this has encouraged
movements and governments across the
region to do the same.
This strengthening of the anti-capitalist
and anti-imperialist movement across Latin
America has created huge fear and anxiety
among imperialist governments. This is why
for the last 20 years, the governments of the
U.S., Canada and Europe and their rightwing
allies in Latin America have battered
Venezuela with attempted coup d’états,
economic sabotage, criminal sanctions,
violence, and outright violations of the laws,
constitution and sovereignty of Venezuela on
top of constant threats of military intervention.
One of the most blatant examples of this
was the 2002 attempted coup d’état against
President Chavez. The coup d’état was
a complete failure, and within 48 hours
President Chavez was returned to office by
massive protests and organization of the
people of Venezuela. The U.S. government
was the biggest loser in the illegal and violent
attack - as their role in supporting the coup
plotters was completely exposed.
Since 2002, U.S. intervention in Venezuela and
support for Venezuela’s counter-revolutionary,
violent opposition has continued to escalate.
This opposition has repeatedly initiated
violent street riots in Venezuela that have
killed hundreds of people. Most of the
financial support for the opposition, has
been funnelled through the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID), the
National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
and the National Republican Institute (NRI),
which puts money directly in the hands of
these pro-U.S. mercenaries under the guise
of supporting the promotion of “democracy”
and “human rights” in Venezuela. The U.S.
government has directed hundreds of millions
of dollars to this effort, including at least
$25million from 2001-2006 (New York
Times) and at least $49million since 2009
(TeleSUR).
The Organization of American States (OAS)
has also been used by the U.S. government as
a tool for intervention in Venezuela. For more
than three years, the U.S. government and
their allies have been maneuvering to suspend
or remove Venezuela from the regional body,
which by the way, is based in Washington
DC. However, on June 5, 2018, the proU.S.
intervention countries, which includes
Canada, lost yet another vote. Out of the 34
member-states, only 15 voted in favour of
removing Venezuela for so-called violation
of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
This type of measure requires 24 votes in
favour. This shameful attempt to meddle in
the internal affairs of Venezuela is even more
disgraceful considering that the SecretaryGeneral
of the OAS, Luis Almagro, has
continued to attempt to remove Venezuela
from the organization,
even though Venezuela
began proceedings to
leave the OAS by their
own accord, and will
be gone by April 2019.
Sanctions are an Act
of War
In 2015, U.S. President
Obama issued an
Executive Order
declaring Venezuela
an “extraordinary
threat” to U.S.
national security. This
ridiculous assertion, which was renewed
by President Trump, has enabled the U.S.
government to implement a criminal regime
of sanctions against Venezuela. These
sanctions and amount to an illegal act of war
by implementing collective punishment on
the people of Venezuela for expressing their
right to choose their government and shape
their society.
The criminal sanctions against Venezuela,
levelled by the United States, Canada,
the European Union, Switzerland and
Panama, have had a devastating impact on
the Venezuelan economy and the people of
Venezuela. They prevent Venezuela’s ability
to import vital foods and medicine, while at
the same time cutting Venezuela off from
receiving payments for their exports, cutting
them off from financing and limiting their
access to foreign currency.
In March 2018 Sures, a Venezuelan civil
society, the non-governmental organization
issued a report titled “Unilateral Coercive
Measures Against Venezuela and Its Impact
on Human Rights.” This important report
documents the damaging effect that sanctions
have had on the people of Venezuela. They
especially report on the impact on the health
of the people of Venezuela ± including cases
where the government of Venezuela has
been blocked from paying for life-sustaining
imported medicines such as 300,000 doses of
insulin.
As reported by Sures, “Venezuela imports
most of the medicines it requires to guarantee
the life and health of its inhabitants. 34% is
purchased from the USA, 7% from Spain
and 5% from Italy. Only of these countries
that have applied unilateral coercive measures
to Venezuela were imported a total of 46%
of the medicines needed by the Venezuelan
people. The same thing happens with food,
33% of imports come from the USA and 12%
from Canada. That is, 45% of food imports
originated from states that have maintained
a policy of greater confrontation and have
applied the greatest amount of economic
sanctions against Venezuela.”
This report also outlines how the sanctions
also target Venezuela’s oil sector, and the
“Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), the
main state company having the monopoly of
hydrocarbon exploitation on the nation that
generates more than the 90% of the income in
foreign currency in the country.”
The effects of these sanctions have been
further exasperated by the economic war
that Venezuela’s capitalist class is waging
against the mass majority of the people of
Venezuela. This further attempt to “starve
the people of Venezuela into submission” has
been manifested in hoarding, a slow-down
in the production of basic goods and food in
Venezuela as well as the growth of massive
smuggling operations that bring super-profits
to criminals and Venezuela’s rich.
Defend the Sovereignty and SelfDetermination
of Venezuela!
In the last week of June, U.S. Vice President
Mike Pence toured throughout Latin America.
He explained clearly his intentions with the
tour during his speech to the Organization
of American States (OAS) in the beginning
of June, “I call on member states to apply
additional pressure on the Maduro regime
with financial sanctions and diplomatic
isolation until such time as it takes the actions
necessary to return genuine democracy and
provide people desperately needed access to
international humanitarian aid.”
Let us not be fooled by the deceptions of
the U.S. government and their allies, when
they speak the language of “human rights”
and “democracy.” Imperialist governments
are following the same recipe for U.S.-
sponsored “regime change” that they did in
2006, “Strengthening Democratic Institutions,
Penetrating Chavez’ Political Base, Dividing
Chavismo, Protecting Vital US business, and
Isolating Chavez internationally” (from a 2006
diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks).
The U.S.-led campaign to tighten the screws
against the Venezuelan economy, overthrow
the government of Venezuela, and reverse the
gains of the Bolivarian revolutionary process
is intensifying. As poor and working people
in North America, we must organize to put
an end to the criminal sanctions of the United
States and Canada against Venezuela. We
have the responsibility to defend Venezuela’s
right to sovereignty and self-determination.
We must actively and consistently mobilize
in opposition to the U.S. and foreign
intervention in Venezuela.
Follow Alison on Twitter: @Alisoncolette
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