Al Jazeera Discovers Venezuela's Economy Affected by Things Other Than Venezuela
The piece quotes economist Francisco Rodriguez, stating that “regaining access to blocked assets will be essential for Venezuela’s economic recovery.” Now, while this seems like a basic truth, it took years of sanctions for mainstream outlets to even whisper that the US government's financial warfare might be affecting, you know, the finances. For years, the narrative from Washington, and echoed
dutifully by many media outlets, focused almost exclusively on 'Maduro's mismanagement' as the sole culprit, ignoring the documented impact of punitive measures like those imposed by the Trump administration in 2019, which effectively cut off Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, from the US market and international financing. One might wonder: how many 'sanctioned democracies' does it take
for the media to connect foreign policy actions with economic outcomes? This selective amnesia regarding the crushing impact of US sanctions—whether in Cuba, Iran, or Venezuela—conveniently deflects blame from policies designed to instigate regime change, framing them instead as benign 'pressure' or 'targeted measures.' Funny how 'targeted' always seems to hit the entire population.