Independent Discovers Venezuela 'Seeks' Freedom from US Control, After Decades of US Control
The Independent reports that the Venezuelan government is 'seeking to show it is operating free from US control.' One might wonder why they need to 'show' it, rather than simply exist. Perhaps it's because for decades, the US has systematically worked to undermine Venezuelan sovereignty. From supporting coup attempts against Hugo Chávez in 2002 to imposing crippling sanctions and backing
self-declared 'interim presidents' like Juan Guaidó (who, despite US support, failed spectacularly), Washington's fingerprints are all over Venezuela's internal affairs. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued over 150 sanctions against Venezuela since 2017, directly impacting its oil industry and the lives of ordinary citizens, according to public Treasury Department records. To
frame Venezuela's efforts to govern itself as merely 'seeking to show' autonomy is to ignore the elephant-sized US economic warfare in the room. This isn't about mere perception; it's about a nation attempting to navigate a path independent of a global superpower that has repeatedly treated it as a geopolitical chessboard, sanctioning the very oil sales that could alleviate the nation's economic
struggles. The 'seeking to show' is a direct response to a hostile foreign policy, not some abstract desire for validation. It’s almost as if actual independence is a novel concept when Uncle Sam isn't pulling the strings.