Diana Roy
Since 2006, the United States has imposed a wide variety of sanctions [PDF]. The most significant are preventing the Venezuelan government from accessing the U.S. financial system; freezing the bank accounts and other assets of the Nicolás Maduro administration; blocking oil imports from the state oil and gas company, PDVSA; and imposing penalties on individuals who the U.S. government determines have undermined democratic processes or committed human rights abuses. Among those targeted are Maduro himself, eight supreme court judges, and the director of the central bank.
Democracyterrorism-related sanctions, which prohibit all commercial arms sales to Venezuela and target individuals found to financially support terrorist organizations;
drug trafficking–related sanctions, which target individuals and companies labeled as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers; and,
broader sectoral sanctions, which block the assets and transactions of companies that benefit from the Maduro administration’s corrupt practices.
The governments of Canada, the European Union, Mexico, Panama, and Switzerland have also sanctioned the Maduro administration, including by freezing assets, embargoing arms sales, and banning travel.
Why did the U.S. government impose sanctions?
President George W. Bush’s 2006 ban on all U.S. commercial arms sales was in response to the Venezuelan government’s lack of cooperation on counterterrorism and anti-narcotics efforts. (Hugo Chávez was in power at the time.) In 2014, following widespread political protests and subsequent reports of abuse by Venezuelan police forces, the U.S. Congress authorized President Barack Obama to impose sanctions on individuals involved in human rights violations. The next year, Obama declared [PDF] Venezuela a national security threat and applied sanctions on several high-ranking officials.
In 2017, President Donald Trump began aggressively tightening sanctions with the aim of ousting Maduro in favor of an interim opposition government led by Juan Guaidó. The Trump administration cut off the Maduro regime’s access to the U.S. financial system; barred U.S. companies and citizens from purchasing Venezuelan debt; and blocked PDVSA from exporting to the United States, its primary destination. By the end of his term, Trump had issued seven executive orders targeting state-owned or -affiliated companies, government agencies, and the central bank.
With a few exceptions, President Joe Biden has kept these measures in place. Yet, he has opted to start direct talks with the Maduro government and has floated the idea of easing oil sanctions in exchange for democratic reforms.
How much have sanctions hurt Venezuela?
This is a matter of debate. Critics of sanctions, particularly Trump’s aggressive measures, say they have increased Venezuela’s disease and mortality rates, worsened widespread hunger, accelerated the migration crisis, and exacerbated the country’s economic troubles [PDF]. Other researchers argue that sanctions are not primarily responsible [PDF] for Venezuela’s rapid decline. Instead, they say that economic mismanagement, and the resulting hyperinflation and collapse in living standards, long preceded most sanctions.
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