White House Plans Venezuela Quarantine, Forgets Sanction History
Newsweek reports the Trump administration’s plan to intensify economic pressure on Venezuela's oil, including a potential 'quarantine' — a term that sounds suspiciously like 'blockade,' last seen imposed on Cuba for over 60 years. This isn't groundbreaking, or even slightly original; the US has been sanctioning Venezuela for years, escalating under Obama before Trump intensified in 2017 with
financial sanctions against PDVSA, the state oil company. One might wonder if this 'new focus' involves a fresh batch of analysts who haven't read any history books. Instead of leading to regime change, these sanctions have consistently caused humanitarian crises, with the UN's own experts confirming that US sanctions 'have inflicted, and continue to inflict, catastrophic damage on the Venezuelan
economy and society.' But why bother with inconvenient details like expert consensus or decades of failed policy outcomes?