Myka Owens

May 20th, 2019

US Sanctions on Venezuela
(An Informative Think-piece)

The hyperinflation in Venezuela is primarily caused by the massive illegal sanctions that the
United States has imposed on the country. The United States will use its allies to gang up on
sanctioning the Venezuelan people all because they nationalized oil to provide social services
and work with Cuba. The goal is to starve the whole population so that they are unhappy with
their own government and push for regime change towards a government that makes policy in
favor of US interests. The typical neocons on both sides like Hillary are out calling for regime
change because of how Maduro is treating them not allowing this fake humanitarian aid in. If the
US wanted to provide humanitarian aid and instant relief they have the ability to lift the sanctions
that have not even been approved by the UN Security Council and are therefore illegal. This
way people can buy basic food and unfreeze the accounts of the government to provide
services and medicine to people in need. This is a complete sabotage of a democratic
government and collective punishment of an entire population to turn a sovereign nation into a
dependent outpost for the US.

In short, the United States government is starving an entire sovereign nation containing millions
of people with a democratic system solely due to the fact that they were not fond of Venezuela’s
nationalization of oil. Ask yourself, how can you rationalize that behavior?

“Among the results of broad economic sanctions implemented by the Trump administration
since August 2017:

-An estimated more than 40,000 deaths from 2017–2018

-The sanctions have reduced the availability of food and medicine, and increased disease and
mortality

-The August 2017 sanctions contributed to a sharp decline in oil production that caused great
harm to the civilian population;

-The US sanctions implemented since January, if they continue will almost certainly result in
tens of thousands more avoidable deaths

-This is based on an estimated 80,000 people with HIV who have not had antiretroviral
treatment since 2017, 16,000 people who need dialysis, 16,000 people with cancer, and 4
million with diabetes and hypertension (many of whom cannot obtain insulin or cardiovascular
medicine)
-Since the sanctions that began in January 2019, oil production has fallen by 431,000 barrels
per day or 36.4 percent. This will greatly accelerate the humanitarian crisis, but the projected 67
percent decline in oil production for the year, if the sanctions continue, would cause vastly more
loss of human life.”

https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24131&LangID=E