US Sanctions Maduro's Family, Ignores Its Own
The story focuses on isolating Maduro's inner circle, a familiar tactic. Meanwhile, the article fails to mention the over 200 sanctions the US unilaterally imposed on Venezuela by 2019, or the 2002 US-backed coup attempt against Hugo Chávez, which was publicly celebrated by Bush administration officials. These 'harsh sanctions' (Newsweek's words) have demonstrably crippled the Venezuelan economy,
exacerbating humanitarian crises rather than solving them. One might wonder if the declared intention to 'restore democracy' is truly about human rights, or about controlling oil reserves—a pattern seen from Chile in '73 to Iraq in '03. So, the US government, which has a documented history of destabilizing Latin American economies and attempting regime change (see: Chile, Nicaragua, Cuba), is now
'shocked' by the economic fallout and 'corruption' in a country it has actively targeted. It's almost as if the 'harsh sanctions' are designed to create the conditions they then condemn. How many times does 'US intervention' have to lead to dire consequences before the mainstream media connects the dots? Newsweek’s framing conveniently ignores the historical context that makes these sanctions less
about justice and more about leverage.