Venezuelans are in the same boat as Cubans

The article Why the US Is Reimposing Sanctions on Venezuela? by Roger D. Harris (Antiwar.com) came out in February, so about six months ago. I took some notes on it before the U.S. decided to completely ignore the Venezuelan election results a few weeks ago.

So, how was it going in Venezuela before the election?

“Even with limited sanctions relief, Venezuela anticipated a 27% increase in revenues for its state-run oil company. Experts predicted a “moderate economic expansion” after having experienced the greatest economic contraction in peacetime of any country in the modern era. Venezuela was on the road to recovery.

“Then on January 30, the US rescinded the license for gold sales and threatened to allow the oil license to expire on April 18, which could cost $1.6B in lost revenue. The ostensible reason for the flip in US policy was the failure of the Venezuelan supreme court to overturn previous prohibitions on Maria Corina Machado and some other opposition politicians from running for public office.”

The U.S.: If you don’t let our CIA-funded candidates run for office, we will go back on our deal. Democracy FTW 🙌 . Who is Machado, you ask?

“Machado’s treatment by the Venezuelan government has arguably erred more on the side of leniency than severity. In most other countries, a person with her rap sheet would be behind bars.

“Back in 2002, Machado signed the Carmona Decree, establishing a coup government. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had been deposed in a military coup backed by the US. The constitution was suspended, the legislature dismissed, and the supreme court shuttered.

“Fortunately for democracy in Venezuela, the coup lasted less than three days. The people spontaneously took to the streets and restored their elected government. Machado, who now incredulously claims she signed the coup government’s founding decree mistakenly, was afforded amnesty.”

“The New York Times described the supreme court’s decision to uphold her ban as “a crippling blow to prospects for credible elections…in exchange for the lifting of crippling US economic sanctions.” In other words, the Venezuelans did not bow to blackmail and allow a criminal to run for public office.”

The New York Times taking the high road, as always. How in God’s name can anyone think of this newspaper as liberal or “leftist” in any way? It’s the state news service for an increasingly fascist empire. The U.S. uses incredible economic sanctions to squeeze Venezuela, then tries to force its candidates of choice into the elections. When those candidates don’t win, they cheerily start spreading rumors that the Venezuelan elections are corrupt.

They will continue to push sticks into Venezuela’s spokes until they cry uncle. Cuba never did but they paid a tremendous price for it. They ended up with a good deal more authoritarianism than they would have had they been able to trade and interact with neighboring countries more freely, without the Empire’s foot on its neck.

Try and stop us (Simpsons)The same thing is happening to Venezuela. Why Venezuela? Because of its oil. And also very much because the mafia does not like it when countries pretend that they don’t need the U.S. The U.S. doesn’t care about the people there in any way. It pays as much lip service as it needs to in order to continue doing whatever it wants with a minimum of domestic political blowback. The U.S. only has to pretend to care about the people living on top of what it considers to be its oil, by the self-declared Monroe Doctrine. Most people in the U.S. don’t even want it to pretend to care. They consider that to be “weak”. There’s really not a lot of daylight between U.S. and Israeli foreign policy, which is why they’re best buddies.

“Arguably, the US economy would benefit more by promoting commerce with some 40 sanctioned countries than from restricting trade. And the surest remedy for the immigration crisis on the country’s southern border is to end the sanctions, which are producing conditions that have compelled so many to leave their homes. Even US mainstream media has nearly universally concluded that sanctions “don’t work.””

They do work. They just don’t have the effect that the elite tell everyone they will have. I imagine that someone is benefitting mightily from these sanctions. Otherwise, they would have been lifted immediately. That the sanctions never lead to the espoused goals of the sanctions, that dozens of millions suffer in sanctioned countries, that the sanctions lead to increased emigration—and subsequent U.S. immigration—doesn’t matter at all. None of those are the real reasons for the sanctions. The sanctions are there to benefit one or more powerful groups.

To repeat: if the sanctions were harming the elites of Empire, then they would have stopped immediately. There are no salient drawbacks to employing the sanctions, and there must be an upside. I suspect that there is a strong financial one for a few individuals. There is also the upside of the Empire reminding the world who is in charge.

On that note,

“In 2015 President Obama declared a “national emergency.” Venezuela, he claimed, posed an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security of the US. That was not fake news. The imperial hegemon recognizes the “threat of a good example” posed by a country such as Venezuela. As Ricardo Vaz of Venezuelanalysis observed, Venezuela is “a beacon of hope for the Global South, and Latin America in particular, an affront to US hegemony in its own ‘backyard.’””

You see? Empire’s gotta burn down a store once in a while to convince everyone else to pay their protection money.

But I bet they’re all making mad cash on it, too.