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<font size="1"><a href="http://www.ramzybaroud.net/the-ongoing-calamity-us-collective-punishment-of-the-venezuelan-people-must-end/">http://www.ramzybaroud.net/the-ongoing-calamity-us-collective-punishment-of-the-venezuelan-people-must-end/</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">The Ongoing Calamity: US Collective Punishment of the Venezuelan People Must End<br></h1>
</div><div class="gmail-content"><div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p><strong>By Ramzy Baroud -
March 16, 2021
</strong></p>
<p>Recent statements made by US officials suggest that Washington will
continue to pursue a hardline policy on Venezuela. The new Biden
Administration, however, needs to urgently rethink its approach.</p>
<p>US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/biden-administration-won-t-be-negotiating-venezuela-s-maduro-keeping-n1256735">remarked</a>
on February 3 that he “certainly” does not “expect this administration
to be engaging directly with (President) Maduro.” Namely, Price expects
that the Biden Administration will adhere to the strategy of its
predecessor, which is predicated on completely ignoring the current
government in Caracas.</p>
<p>Moreover, the Biden government will also continue to dialogue with
Venezuela’s opposition leader, Juan Guaido. On March 2, Guaido <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-usa-idUSKCN2AU2QO">conversed</a>
with the new American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. It was the
highest-level US contact with the increasingly-discredited and isolated
Guaido since Biden’s <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/biden-harris-inauguration-day-2021/index.html">inauguration</a>
last January. In their exchange, Blinken and Guaido agreed on the
“importance of a return to democracy in Venezuela through free and fair
elections”.</p>
<p>It would be rational, therefore, to conclude that no significant
change regarding US foreign policy in Venezuela will occur under the
Biden Administration, at least imminently. However, such a conclusion
would be hasty, as it fails to appreciate the numerous changes that have
transpired in and around Venezuela in recent years, especially since
Washington strengthened its economic sanctions on the South American
country in <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10715.pdf">2015</a> and again, in <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10715.pdf">2017</a>, <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10715.pdf">2019</a> and, finally, February <a href="https://www.venezuelablog.org/taking-stock-of-chinese-russian-relations-venezuela/">2020</a>.</p>
<p>Washington’s agenda in Venezuela has unmistakably failed, and no
amount of additional sanctions is likely to change the political
outcome. Not only did the Maduro government, ruling party, regional and
international allies prove durable and capable of withstanding immense
political and economic pressures, Washington’s allies are no longer
united, neither about Venezuela nor anywhere else.</p>
<p>Guaido, who arrived on the scene in 2015, was elevated from being a
little known politician to the anti-socialism hero designated by
Washington to reclaim Venezuela in the name of liberal democracy.
Guaido’s legitimacy was largely derived from the Venezuelan opposition’s
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/07/world/americas/venezuela-elections.html">victory</a> in the elections of that same year.</p>
<p>Since then, however, Guaido’s own legitimacy has slowly eroded. By
disproportionately investing in Washington’s ability to oust Maduro
through severe sanctions, diplomatic delegitimization and political
pressure, Guaido slowly abandoned his initial Venezuela-centric
approach, thus delegitimizing himself instead, even among his own
supporters. Frustrated by Guaido’s self-serving priorities, and knowing
that the man’s current strategy would not lead to any substantive
political reordering in the country, Venezuela’s opposition
disintegrated into small factions.</p>
<p>In January 2020, another opposition lawmaker, Luis Parra, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200107-venezuela-s-guaido-sworn-in-as-parliament-speaker-after-stand-off">attempted</a>
to claim the position of Speaker of Parliament. This led the parliament
security to block Guaido’s access to the Palacio Federal Legislativo
for he, too, was claiming the same chair. Images of the chaotic scene
were beamed across the globe.</p>
<p>Venezuela’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/boycotts-venezuela-elections-caracas-b8641cba3354cf8acca765d0de7d3ca8">most recent legislative elections</a>
last December have also reflected the deep divisions among the
country’s opposition parties, where some strictly adhered to the boycott
of the elections while others participated. The outcome was a decisive
victory for Maduro’s United Socialist Party, which now has complete
control over the country’s political institutions. France24 news agency <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210105-new-venezuela-parliament-leaves-western-backed-guaido-out-in-cold-1">captured</a> this new reality in this headline: “New Venezuela Parliament leaves Western-backed Guaido out in cold”.</p>
<p>Actually, Blinken’s call to Guaido, whose moment has faded, is
unlikely to change much on the ground. His usefulness now lies in the
fact that Washington has no other ‘strong man’ in Caracas. Additionally,
Washington has invested tremendous financial resources and political
credit which allowed Guaido to claim the title of the country’s interim
president. Completely divesting from Guaido is also a risky maneuver.</p>
<p>Of note is the shift in language in the US political discourse,
following the Blinken-Guaido telephone conversation: the “importance of a
return to democracy in Venezuela through free and fair elections.” The
change is, perhaps, subtle but still significant, as it is no longer a
decisive demand to remove Maduro from power.</p>
<p>It seems that the distance between the US and Venezuela’s position is shrinking. In August 2019, the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?next_url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fworld%2fthe_americas%2fduring-secret-venezuela-talks-maduro-offered-new-elections-is-it-a-real-breakthrough-or-a-stall%2f2019%2f08%2f16%2ff1129532-c042-11e9-a8b0-7ed8a0d5dc5d_story.html">reported</a>
that Venezuelan negotiators, speaking on behalf of Maduro’s government,
made a “startling offer” during mediated talks with the country’s
opposition in Norway two months earlier, where the government “signaled
(its) willingness to hold such a vote within nine to 12 months,”
referring to the opposition’s demand for fresh presidential elections.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it behooves Washington to engage Caracas in civil
political conversations, away from threats and sanctions, for two main
reasons:</p>
<p>First, despite claims that the majority of Venezuelans living in the
US support Washington’s hardline policies, 46 percent of them also
“support a removal of oil sanctions if the Maduro government agrees to
hold internationally recognized free and fair elections,” according to a
recent opinion poll <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/insights-on-venezuelan-and-cuban-american-sentiments-regarding-us-policy-toward-venezuela/">published</a> by the right-wing Atlantic Council.</p>
<p>Second, Washington’s futile sanctions-based approach to Venezuela has
proved not only immensely harmful to the welfare of the Venezuelan
people but also to Washington’s own regional interests. Washington’s
obstinacy allowed its global rivals, Russia and China, to
unprecedentedly <a href="https://www.venezuelablog.org/taking-stock-of-chinese-russian-relations-venezuela/">cement</a> their economic and strategic interests in that country.</p>
<p>In their 2019 report, the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) <a href="https://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/venezuela-sanctions-2019-04.pdf?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=341e96cf869b6a1ca4dc69307ed0bb5955d22ad7-1614895869-0-AWIef2RsKyym1xMoSRYGPxxn6XJXNZ-GxmP4Gg_Ars1eZiFKq3NQ1wsRhusUwc7LDwjuE1uhBFcQ6wRp3LW-b40EDfYLPWVNb-cEaEyxlygr6BXMXYL1QhJHbO0oho1AFkPPwrPcXA1ebWH2Ra6QfYOA4b-ixTAGmpR40-xlJiAhZtJ6UHjy5b9MsJh4HWqbFcUhR0pVt9cCGGSHce5NYc8PdYYlz7AhScVDSIn8rfVO5_VoL-ecmgzTA9DNi2I-MiMt_OgrbQyiINBaKsNxzeUkiOorQhqLbBalUR2P1JWtGChAG1DCaS3-z0cuDLL-jZlotLMa3KEwqS4WswBeCZypv1qTu0AA9362hY6FaPOxGcaJbh3YGEO-l4zvRn1oh6Uy_MA7WUkl6B4p_yH1Cfc8-cure-vbjTT4FBFY_RruIMSDC5BMaCrqI1hvpZBpCQ">revealed</a>
that, in the 2017-18 year, US-led sanctions on Venezuela “have
inflicted – and increasingly inflict – very serious harm to human life
and health, including an estimated more than 40,000 deaths”.</p>
<p>Certainly, there can be no political logic or moral justification for this ongoing calamity.</p>
<p>Certainly, there can be no political logic or moral justification for this ongoing calamity<em>– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “</em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/These-Chains-Will-Broken-Palestinian/dp/1949762092"><em>These Chains Will Be Broken</em></a><em>:
Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons”
(Clarity Press). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at
the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) and also at the
Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC). His website is </em><a href="http://www.ramzybaroud.net/"><em>www.ramzybaroud.net</em></a></p>
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