Some House Democrats, including Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, have called on the Biden administration to provide sanctions relief for Venezuela:
A group of House Democrats called on the Biden administration to ease sanctions on Venezuela, make more aid available and assess the conditions necessary for a possible re-establishment of diplomatic relations in an effort to alleviate the economic crisis there.
This is the second appeal for Venezuela sanctions relief from House Democrats in recent months. The signatories of the May letter urged the administration to lift sanctions on both Venezuela and Cuba and framed it as a way to ease the migration crisis at the border. The new appeal focuses on Venezuela policy and the destructive effects of U.S. sanctions on that country.
The House members are right that “to purposefully continue contributing to economic hardship experienced by an entire population is immoral and unworthy of the United States.” It is encouraging that there are many members of Congress objecting to this policy and urging the administration to change course. Just by shining a light on the destruction caused by broad sanctions, these House members are doing valuable work in challenging a monstrous status quo.
The bankruptcy and cruelty of our current Venezuela policy are undeniable, as is its failure. There was very little dissent against this policy when it began, and until quite recently there was almost no criticism of it coming from Congress. The growing recognition that the policy has made things much worse for the people of Venezuela may be having an effect on the debate surrounding sanctions relief.
It is often politically dangerous for elected officials to propose sanctions relief because these officials are then accused of supporting the authoritarian government in the other country. It is usually much safer for politicians to cheer on sanctions no matter how much misery they cause, because the victims of the policy are overseas and can’t punish the politicians responsible for their hardship. The fact that so many members of the president’s party have been willing to go on the record calling for sanctions relief represents important progress in the fight against policies of collective punishment. The involvement of several prominent members in leadership positions is another sign that the political calculations on this issue may be changing.
Read the rest of the article at Eunomia
Daniel Larison writes at Eunomia. He is former senior editor at The American Conservative. He has been published in Antiwar.com, the New York Times Book Review, Dallas Morning News, World Politics Review, Politico Magazine, Orthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and was a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Lancaster, PA. Follow him on Twitter.
It is good there are Democrats calling for sanctions relief for Venezuela and Cuba. Sanctions harm the people in the countries that are affected and do not lead to regime change.
These same Democrats should also take a stand on the other follies in the Biden Administration such as his endless wars in the ME, drone strikes sanctions against those countries, the war in Yemen, sanctions against Afghanistan, the war in Ukraine and tension with China and aid to Israel.
I wish there would be a Democrat challenging Biden for POTUS that would speak out against his atrocities. RFK’s policy towards Israel is the same as Biden’s.
RFK has some bad positions, but he wants to close U.S. foreign military bases, stop arming & funding Ukraine, and really rein in the U.S. military. I’d say that’s a major improvement over other Democrats. Of course I totally disagree with him on Israel/Palestine, and some of his comments on that issue are simply not based in reality. But if you’re going to support a lesser evil, RFK is a lot less evil than other Democrats. Personally, I’ll be voting for Cornell West to get the Green Party nomination, and I’ll certainly vote for him for president if he does so.
Lifting sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba and possibly other countries would be a good idea. These sanctions have been causing suffering of innocent people in foreign countries without accomplishing anything constructive. With regard to Cuba, don’t just repeal the sanctions, but normalize relations completely. Americans should be free to travel to Cuba just like any other country.
Sure, that’s what the U.S. should do. The U.S. should also close all its foreign military bases (around 800 that we know of, almost certainly more that we don’t), stop bullying other countries, and generally stop acting like an evil empire. But it won’t, because its leaders lust for money, power, and material things, and because the American public also does to a large enough extent that they’re not willing to give up their opulent lifestyles and try to live like normal humans.
Those crippling sanctions had a lot do do with Chavez and Maduro speaking harshly against Israel in the UN. Those feelings are shared by Russia, the Muslim world and to some level, China Unfortunately for America every President since Truman have strongly stood up for Israel
Israel is the U.S. client state in the region, so of course the U.S. supports Israel.
I think that other countries’ support of Palestinians has more to do with morals and ethics than U.S. sanctions. Almost all other countries support the Palestinians against Israel, so that’s not unusual.
Not to that extent and not in that order. A client state would mean that all of Israel’s’ leaders support America 100% regardless if America’s leaders do so. It is the other way around with 100% support from DC regardless if that is the case with Israel’s leaders The extent can be seen in Biden’s cabinet which has a large number of members who have dual citizenship with Israel
I have no doubt that the modern state of Israel was created as a client state in order to try to have at least some control of oil in the Middle East. Now we also have the U.S. religious fanatics, mostly Christian, who fanatically support Israel and everything it does. The religious fanatics are the reason for that fanatic support.
There are centers of Christianity that is equal and in some ways greater than Israel as in the Vatican and Christians in America oppose it. the average American also opposes Christian values in America. What stands out with Israel is in my first post. Any nation that challenges it faces US sanctions, and coups. Outside of Venezuela, which btw is a Catholic nation, there is Iran ,Pakistan, and Libya, that opposed Israel and faced the consequences. I am sure there is an element of setting up Israel to deal with the ME but that does not explain the support from all Presidents regardless of party
“I am sure there is an element of setting up Israel to deal with the ME
but that does not explain the support from all Presidents regardless of
party”
Sure it does. As a president you have to support your client states, doesn’t matter which party.
I don’t know exactly what you mean by opposing Israel, but almost every country in the world supports the Palestinians against Israel. Whatever the countries you mentioned support of Israel is or was, that had nothing to do with what the U.S. did or is doing to them. I think you’re obsessed with Israel.
Come on Jeff. If President have to support client states then there would be unanimous support for Saudi Arabia as much as there is for Israel. America has more client states than any other nation but there no nation who has received full support since the days of Truman
Well I don’t see how we can be for destroying the economy of Venezuela and surprised at the flood of migrants. I issue a call to inaction lets just leave Venezuela to itself, if their system really is bad it will collapse by itself.
Not to mention it’s none of our business how other countries run themselves. Of course the evil empire thinks it can tell everyone on the planet what to do for its own benefit, so this is what we get.