Al Jazeera Discovers US Sanctions Cripple Venezuela, Sort Of
Al Jazeera reports that Venezuela, despite having the world's largest oil reserves, sees many citizens earn less than $4 a month. The segment attributes this directly to internal corruption and mismanagement, painting a picture of a resource-rich nation failing its people. (Because who needs nuance when there are simple narratives to uphold?). What the video conveniently forgets to illustrate (or
even mention) are the crippling US sanctions implemented since 2006, significantly tightened under the Trump administration in 2019 to explicitly target Venezuela's oil industry and the country's access to international finance. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), these sanctions have contributed to tens of thousands of deaths and directly impacted the Venezuelan
economy's ability to generate revenue and import essential goods. It's almost as if external sabotage factors into a nation's ability to leverage its resources for its people. Funny how that doesn't make the 'numbers' segment.