Trump Blames Sanctions For Blocking Oil He Imposed
When Trump says he wants to 'free up' Venezuelan oil, it demands a follow-up: Who exactly 'blocked it' in the first place? Answer: The Trump administration. Under his watch, the US government escalated sanctions against Venezuela, including an oil embargo in 2019, targeting state-owned PDVSA. This wasn't some accidental oversight; it was a deliberate, pressure-cooker strategy to destabilize the
Maduro government, consistently championed by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Senator Marco Rubio. Now, Trump simply declares he'd reverse his own policy, ostensibly to use the oil 'to help Venezuelans.' This is, of course, after those very Trump-era sanctions contributed to a humanitarian crisis and a 99% reduction in Venezuelan oil exports by 2020. The rhetoric conveniently omits that
the 'block' he's proposing to remove was a lock he personally installed and tightened. One might wonder if this sudden concern for 'free flow' has anything to do with current global fuel prices (or, perhaps, campaign donations).