Venezuela is not alone

Sep 07, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

The financial oligarchy of the United States of America has, throughout history, used measures to economically and financially stifle nation-states and, consequently, their populations.
One hundred years ago, the then US President, Woodrow Wilson, stated: “A nation that is boycotted is a nation that is in sight of surrender. Apply this economic, peaceful, silent, deadly remedy and there will be no need for force. It does not cost a life outside the nation boycotted, but it brings a pressure upon that nation which, in my judgment, no modern nation could resist “.
Since 2014, the US government has attacked Venezuelans through a series of sanctions or unilateral coercive measures, which have been applied with increasing intensity, and encompass the political, diplomatic and economic spheres; seeking to generate violence and chaos with the aim of overthrowing a democratically elected government, and hence force a change of regime that will allow access to the vast natural resources of Venezuela, such as oil, natural gas and gold, on terms that are favourable for U.S. corporations.
Moreover, such ruthless and Machiavellian attacks have been accompanied with a campaign of disinformation, whereby the aggressor claims to be the victim, as was the case when the US Government proclaimed that Venezuela represents an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to its national security. In reality, they are acts of economic warfare, which are in line with geopolitical interests, and which end up undermining the principles that they supposedly defend.
The truth is out there.
According to independent experts, the unilateral coercive measures imposed by Washington since 2014 have already caused a loss in Venezuela’s income in excess of US $150 billion, in addition to the theft of the assets of CITGO, the US subsidiary of the state company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), as well as the seizure of bank accounts abroad amounting to more than $30 billion.
It is undeniable that these sanctions directly affect the population.
In September of last year, President Nicolás Maduro denounced the seizure of a shipment of over 300,000 doses of insulin, as Citibank refused to receive the funds sent by Venezuela to pay for the importation of this insulin shipment. Similarly, US financial entities froze payments to international suppliers and prevented the unloading of 29 ships containing products needed for the processing of food in the country.
According to economists Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs, the sanctions against Venezuela caused around 40,000 deaths between 2017 and 2018 and could be considered as attacks against the civilian population, as established by the Geneva and The Hague international conventions, of which the United States is a signatory.
Nonetheless, the US Government and its allies, somehow, claim that the sanctions are only aimed at President Nicolas Maduro and his aides, in an attempt to save face from their widespread systematic and deliberate attack against a civilian population.
Sadly, these measures are applauded by leaders whose selfish political interests lead them to beg Washington for the application of increasingly stringent sanctions, and to publicly express their aspiration for the Marines to reach the Venezuelan coast, regardless of the thousands of lives that could be lost.
The total blockade of the Venezuelan economy is rejected by the peoples of world, and Washington is aware of that. We have forged international alliances that allow us to stoically resist imperial efforts to create chaos and social violence.
On July 21, the Non-Aligned Movement, which comprises 120 nations, strongly condemned the sanctions imposed by the United States, and called for the creation of a multi-polar world during a Ministerial meeting that took place in the city of Caracas.
Subsequently, on July 25th, representatives of 120 Latin American social and political organisations visited Caracas in the framework of the Meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum to discuss the neoliberal offensive against the Latin American people and the increase in poverty and inequality that has resulted from it.
In Guyana, social organisations, political leaders and hundreds of Guyanese have expressed their rejection of the economic and commercial blockade.
We are not alone because the peoples of the world understand what is at stake in Venezuela; which is not the permanence of a government in power, but sovereignty, self-determination, dignity and the defence of multilateralism and of peace; a struggle against warmongering unilateralism that seeks to impose new forms of colonialism on the world.
Mr. Wilson was wrong, and so is Mr. Trump; Venezuela is not alone, and we shall persevere and prevail.

H. E. Luis Díaz Monclús
Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

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