BBC Discovers Venezuelans Worry More About US Sanctions Than US Threats
The BBC's recent dispatch from Venezuela highlights citizens' fears over food prices, noting a military threat from US vessels in nearby waters. A truly stunning revelation, given that the 'threat' of US military action has been accompanied by a relentless, decade-long US economic war. Remember 2017, when the Trump administration imposed crushing financial sanctions that included a full oil
embargo? That's when Venezuela's food imports plummeted by 70%, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. It's almost as if the two are not separate concerns, but rather different prongs of a coordinated strategy. So, yes, Venezuelans 'worry more about food' when their economy has been systematically dismantled by the very nation now sending warships. One might wonder if the BBC's
editorial team ever considers that starvation can be a weapon of war too, albeit a less photogenic one than missile launchers. The US Treasury data on sanctions against Venezuela is public record; perhaps the BBC could connect the dots for its audience next time, before presenting engineered poverty as an unfortunate, unrelated phenomenon.