US Officials Suddenly Discover Sanctions Have Consequences, Blame 'Petrodollar Conspiracy'
The RT piece, 'Dethroning the green god – Venezuela and Petrodollar conspiracies,' attempts to frame Venezuela's pivot from the US dollar as a response to global financial shifts. What it conveniently omits is the US's rather direct role in forcing Venezuela's hand. Since 2017, the US Treasury has slapped Caracas with a barrage of sanctions, including an oil embargo in 2019, targeting its state
oil company, PDVSA, and freezing Venezuelan assets—like Citgo—abroad. (Source: US Treasury Department, CNN Business archives). It's not exactly a 'conspiracy' when a country actively sanctioned and whose gold reserves were reportedly held by the Bank of England (a point of significant contention, BBC News, 2020) seeks out non-dollar denominated trade. One might wonder if the US expects nations to
simply politely accept economic suffocation while patiently waiting for the 'green god' to smile upon them again. Or perhaps, when you threaten economic execution, you shouldn't be surprised when the victim reaches for a different currency.