US Sanctions are 'Humanitarian Intervention,' Not Acts of War, Say Dissenting Senators
📰 THE STORY: The Hill reports on a spat between Senators Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, focusing on whether a hypothetical capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would constitute an 'act of war.' Paul criticizes Rubio's hawkish stance, urging caution against foreign entanglements. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The US has a long and bloody history of interfering in Latin
American democracies. In 2002, the CIA backed a failed coup attempt against Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. More recently, in 2019, the US recognized Juan Guaidó, a largely unknown opposition figure with no electoral mandate, as Venezuela's 'legitimate' interim president, echoing past puppet regimes like the one installed in Chile after the 1973 CIA coup against Salvador Allende. Double Standard: While
the US decries alleged 'authoritarianism' in Venezuela, leading to punitive sanctions, it provides billions in military aid and diplomatic cover to actual dictatorships and human rights abusers globally, including Egypt ($1.3B/year to Sisi's regime) and the Netanyahu government in Israel, even as it commits documented atrocities and genocide in Gaza. The 'concern for democracy' is selective and
self-serving. Follow the Money: The financial impact of US sanctions on Venezuela has been devastating. A 2019 report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) estimated that US sanctions, imposed since 2017, contributed to over 40,000 deaths in Venezuela by the end of 2018. These sanctions specifically targeted the oil sector, crippling the country's primary source of revenue and