[News] The Next Aggression that the U.S. is Preparing against Venezuela

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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The Next Aggression that the U.S. is Preparing against Venezuela
July 21, 2023

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Protest against US aggression against Venezuela, photo:Bill Hackwell

This year, the legislative arm in Washington has introduced three bills in
the U.S. Congress against Venezuela: the Prohibition of Transactions and
Leases with Venezuela’s Illegitimate Authoritarian Regime Act, the
Venezuelan Human Rights “AFFECT” Act and the Venezuelan Democracy Act. The
bills have a common denominator: to further increase the pressure of the
blockade and impose on it a framework of “humanitarian assistance”.

The focus of this article is the Venezuelan Democracy Act which was
introduced in the newly installed U.S. Senate last March. The bill was put
together by five Republicans: Jim Risch, Marco Rubio, Bill Hagerty, Rick
Scott and John Barrasso, who orbit around the lobby of energy companies and
corporations that mobilize large sums of money to rebuild and assist
“needy” countries.

The law is an aspirational mega project of administrative-interverntionist
management towards Venezuela that begins with the outline of the road map
that they would like to apply in a next scenario of coercion, and that
through its articles seeks to establish the guidelines for the entire U.S.
state structure to engage in the not so innovative operative against
Venezuela, namely:

   - “Peaceful” transition.
   - Resumption of economic growth in Venezuela.
   - Imposition of “sanctions” on the Venezuelan government and any
   successor they deem “undemocratic”.
   - Assistance and financing.

This “strategy” does not appear out of nowhere, it is a known and imposed
modus operandi in other countries such as Haiti or Syria, and has also been
described in reports such as the one published in December 2022 by the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, “Venezuela in 2023 and
Beyond: charting a different course”, which shows, in essence, what is
developed in this law.

“Transition and assistance”.

On peaceful transition, two sections address that route. One on the
“requirements to determine whether a transitional government is in power in
Venezuela” and another on the policy towards “a transitional government and
a democratically elected government” which, in general lines and beyond the
obvious intrusion, peek in the background of the new steps to change the
government of Venezuela: highlight initiatives that seem to emerge from any
group representing the so-called “civil society” and in which “the
self-determination of the people” can be recognized, to encourage them to
“empower themselves with a government”.

Even, in the terms of that longed-for passage from a transitional
government to a government per se, these congressmen dare to add that the
democratic government to be elected -democratic according to their criteria
and interests- will result from “an expression of the self-determination of
the people”. The pressure strategy will have the same objective of changing
the government, but by more “spontaneous” means.

In the same section they point out that, in the face of a “difficult”
transition, the US administration as a whole must be prepared to provide
“humanitarian assistance”, the place where they really do business and
project their political interests.

In fact, it is further described that the Export-Import Bank of the United
States will be part of all the agencies that will be involved in this
assistance. It should be noted that the Export-Import Bank finances exports
of U.S. products and services to international markets.

Matthew Rooney, a former State Department official and advisor to the
George W. Bush Institute think tank, explained in a 2019 article that the
U.S. Congress budgets annual dollar amounts to influence and pressure
foreign governments to support and prioritize U.S. interests in the U.S.
and in the given region.

The law also refers to the distribution of resources under that
“assistance” explaining that, in order for them to “reach the people”, U.S.
agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) must be used, a matter
on which there is already a precedent: the pot of corruption that was
uncovered by the diversion of “humanitarian aid” funds in 2019, courtesy of
the Guaidó gang.

These irregularities in that modality of resource distribution is well
known in U.S. power groups. Economist and Stockholm University professor
Jakob Svensson described in his book Foreign Aid and Rent-Seeking that “the
inflow of aid negatively affects a developing economy because these
resources are diverted from productive activities to rent-seeking
activities by individuals from elite social groups in the economy.”

In the end, embezzlement goes hand in hand with these not at all altruistic
initiatives: it is a macabre symbiosis of big business management.

On the other hand, around this scheme of “assistance to the people of
Venezuela” these congressmen added a segment dedicated to providing
assistance in the preparation of the Venezuelan military forces, once a new
government is established.

This subsection is different from other legislation because it goes beyond
the commercial and political sphere and enters the field of defense and
sovereignty. This U.S. approach is not surprising since they have been
promoting for some time the recipe book of interference in different
countries, whose crucial objective in the international agenda of the White
House is to achieve control over the armed forces of a country in order to
guarantee its interests.

More blockade, more “sanctions

In order to prevent any type of financing to the Venezuelan government, in
this law the section on the imposition of “sanctions” states that the
Secretary of the Treasury of the United States will have the power to
withhold any payment or loan approved by an international financial
institution such as the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American
Development Bank, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, among
others.

In addition, to expand the range of action of this hanging initiative, it
is included that the U.S. government shall encourage other governments to
restrict any commercial and credit relationship with Venezuela. In
addition, the law stipulates that coercive measures will be imposed on any
foreign government that offers aid or assistance to the Venezuelan
government.

It is ostensible that a paragraph would be made to prevent any funding to
PDVSA, since the license to Chevron is an action that has disturbed these
senators; as Republican Risch said last year: “We are deeply concerned
about the Biden administration’s plans to once again ease sanctions”.

A review of this bill shows that its wording is intended to stand as a
Constitution for Venezuela, courtesy of the United States.

If enacted, this bill could potentially nullify any avenue to normalize
bilateral relations with the United States.

Source: Mision Verdad
<https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/la-proxima-agresion-que-eeuu-prepara-contra-venezuela>
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