UN rapporteur: US sanctions on Venezuela are ‘blunt’ way to engineer regime change, causing blanket starvation
US
sanctions against Venezuela are like “going into microsurgery with
a kitchen knife” and are holding an entire population hostage, the
UN special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive
measures told The Grayzone.
by
Michael Selby-Green
Part
2 - “If you block all their financial resources, how would they be
fed?”
Jazairy
is most critical of measures imposed by the United States against
PDVSA on January 28, which bar American individuals and companies
from making transactions with the state owned oil giant, and blocks
its interests and property in the US. He said the measures are
causing starvation.
Venezuela
is heavily dependent on foreign imports of food and medicine which it
often pays for through oil sales. These generate around 98 percent of
the nations export earnings according to OPEC. By imposing sanctions
on PDVSA, the largest company in Venezuela’s oil sector you’re
starving the country, Jazairy said.
“If
you block all their financial resources, how would they be fed?
They’re already in a bad situation. Five million have left the
country because they can’t find subsistence and now you’re going
to make it worse by imposing these sanctions. As I say, it’s
playing with fire,” he said.
He
called it a “mad world” when the US “starves”
people through sanctions and threatens force if US humanitarian aid
is not allowed to be delivered.
“Would
it not have made more sense to let the people survive in the first
place rather than weaponizing humanitarianism after starving them to
trigger civil war?” he said.
Since
backing Juan Guaidó’s coup attempt against current President
Nicolas Maduro, the US, EU, Canada and the UK have all imposed
sanctions against Venezuela which are illegal under international
law.
The UN
official predicted a “terrible” situation around the
corner and the possibility of “tremendous” violence if
leaders don’t change course.
The US
Treasury has not responded to a request for comment on Mr Jaziary’s
allegations.
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