US hope oil sanctions will finally topple Venezuela’s socialist regime

/ Policy & Regulations / Monday, 29 April 2019 12:28

US officials are hoping the new oil sanctions that came into effect will topple the socialist leadership of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The US has adopted an aggressive approach towards Venezuela as the humanitarian crisis in the country intensifies. The United States issued a declaration which said that they will take action against anyone who deals with the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, or any other company that holds a 50% stake.

The opposition leader Juan Guaido is recognized as Venezuela’s new President in more than 50 countries, but Maduro is stubbornly refusing to stepdown and that decision has sparked rioting and food shortages in the Latin American country.

Once seen as a socialist utopia by those on the left, the country is no falling apart and support for Maduro continue to wane. The US firmly believes that its latest sanctions imposed will finally bring down his regime.

The Trump administration said it would block any US assets of Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and confirmed it has absolutely no desire to negotiate with Maduro, who the US President has described as a socialist firebrand that has overseen the economic collapse of his country.

Prior to the political unrest Venezuela exported 500,000 barrels a day to the United States, which was its largest customer with PDVSA omnipresent.

Even though sanctions legally came into force Sunday, “the reality is that the oil trade between the United States and Venezuela has been absolutely limited and fallen sharply," said Mariano de Alba, a Washington-based international law expert from Venezuela.

However, the sanctions will still have an effect, with Washington vowing to enforce them rigorously against any foreign company with interactions in the United States -- including the US financial system, which dominates the globe.

As of Sunday, "there is no doubt that the sanctions are in force and that any company assumes bigger risks than they did before this date," de Alba said.

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