US Venezuelan Sanctions - A War Crime

Two American economists warn that U.S. sanctions targeting Venezuela "are a death sentence for tens of thousands of people" and that the nation's humanitarian crisis will worsen as long as the sanctions continue. "It's a fruitless, heartless, illegal, and failed policy, causing grave harm to the Venezuelan people."

The nation's humanitarian crisis will worsen as long as the sanctions continue. Since August of 2017, President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions that "have inflicted, and increasingly inflict, very serious harm to human life and health, including an estimated more than 40,000 deaths from 2017–2018," write Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs.

"These sanctions would fit the definition of collective punishment of the civilian population as described in both the Geneva and Hague international conventions, to which the U.S. is a signatory," the economists say. "They are also illegal under international law and treaties which the U.S. has signed, and would appear to violate U.S. law as well."

"The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food, and other essential imports," Mark Weisbrot said. "This is illegal under U.S. and international law, and treaties that the U.S. has signed. Congress should move to stop it."

As Jeffrey Sachs put it, "Venezuela's economic crisis is routinely blamed all on Venezuela... But it is much more than that. American sanctions are deliberately aiming to wreck Venezuela's economy and thereby lead to regime change." 

For background reading on sanctions see:

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2019/no-1375-march-2019/sanctions-waging-war-without-bullets/