Venezuela terms recent US sanctions as ‘threat’ to world

The relationship between the United States and Venezuela is getting tenser as Venezuela’s vice president has termed the recent sanctions freezing the assets of President Nicolas Maduro’s government a ‘global threat.’ The vice president of the oil-rich country has also called the sanctions as an attack on private property.

Delcy Rodriguez wasn’t mincing words on Tuesday as she said, “the US has to understand once and for all that they aren’t the owners of the world”. She also said, “Every country that has investments in the US should be very worried because this sets a dangerous precedent against private property.”

The Vice President said that the decision of the US will not help the country as it will bring more hardships to the Venezuelan people. The Venezuelans are already suffering from the effects of hyperinflation and a deep recession. The US has already imposed sanctions against Maduro. The US national security adviser, John Bolton said on Tuesday that any individual/company will face penalties who try to support Maduro’s government.

“I want to be clear that this sweeping executive order authorises the US government to identify, target and impose sanctions on any persons who continue to provide support to the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro,” said Bolton, at a meeting in Peru’s capital Lima to discuss Venezuela’s political crisis. He said that the US wants to isolate him internationally.

Luis Vicente Leon, an economist with the Caracas-based Datanalisis firm, said the new sanctions will not help in improving the conditions of Venezuela. He said that the sanctions “will severely affect the government” financially but was unlikely to “help create conditions for change”. Leon added, “Maduro has the military and territorial control that he needs, and there are no guarantees that could make us think this will change.”