What happens when you sanction a country's main industry and source of foreign income? Say, Venezuela’s oil sector.
An entire population is punished and thousands die, that's what happens. We break down the US oil sanctions in this brand-new infographic. 🧵👇
In 2017, the US levied financial sanctions against PDVSA, followed by an oil embargo in 2019.
While Venezuela's crisis began in 2014 with the global drop in oil prices, economists argue that the level of suffering Venezuelans experience today is primarily due to sanctions.👇
In 2019, Washington seized the CITGO refinery, Venezuela's most important asset abroad.
The Trump administration also imposed a blanket ban on all dealings with Caracas and a diluent ban further crippled the country’s oil output and fuel production. 👇
2020 began with the US levying secondary sanctions to close off Venezuela's remaining oil-exporting lifelines.
Two subsidiaries from Russia’s energy giant Rosneft + other shippers were targeted for carrying Venezuelan crude. 👇
Washington likewise targeted oil-for-food swaps. In case it wasn't clear before, starving the population was always a key part of the regime-change plan.
By the last quarter of 2020, threats were a common occurrence to deter multinationals from dealing with Venezuela. 👇
The former Trump administration finished 2020 by putting an end to crude-for-diesel swaps and sanctioning more companies that dared to make oil transactions with Venezuela.
Acute fuel shortages quickly gripped the country. This continues today 👇
The result of US sanctions against Venezuela's oil industry:
PDVSA’s output fell from an average of 1.911 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2017 to 500,000 in 2020.
Oil output has recovered after hitting historic lows registering 537,000 bpd in June (OPEC source). 👇
Once more, our deepest appreciation goes out to @utopix_cc's Kael Abello for helping us document the murderous sanctions program against Venezuela with this amazing work.
The US will ride this spectacular trainwreck of nonsense known as the @jguaido pretend presidency into the sunset. Though Biden has allegedly put an expiration date on this circus, US officials will try and stave off the inevitable disaster
The latest development has been yet another extension of a Treasury license banning any transactions with the PDVSA 2020 bond until January 2022. There have been similar ones banning corporations from seizing Vzlan assets without special permission
This is a story w/ equal parts sanctions and opposition tomfoolery. Why are these Treasury licenses relevant? In a word: Citgo (Vzlan US-based oil subsidiary). The PDVSA 2020 bond has defaulted and Citgo shares were pledged as collateral. So bondholders want to seize Citgo shares
Venezuelan writer Luis Britto García sheds light on the country's participative democracy and current political battles: venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15314
Also, here are some links to stories we covered this week. THREAD 👇
Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami denounced Colombia’s move to takeover agrochemical producer Monómeros as a “flagrant theft of a Venezuelan asset.”
Monómeros, frozen and handed to Guaidó in 2019, is a gov't priority in ongoing talks with the opposition. venezuelanalysis.com/news/15316
“We’ve done it again in Mexico,” said @jorgerpsuv, head of the gov’t delegation, after signing two agreements with the US-backed opposition.
The parties would look to secure access to the IMF's Special Drawing Rights to "increase social coverage." venezuelanalysis.com/news/15310
One thing we really don't get is how bigwigs and pundits think (or pretend) the US being despised all over the world is some kind of misunderstanding. Or a product of "misinformation campaigns." Case in point is Washington's stance regarding Venezuela's ongoing dialogue (thread)
Ladies and gentlemen, here's fake ambassador to Vzla James "Jimmy" Story (he has an office in Colombia) saying the US and its puppets are considering *new sanctions* if they don't like how the negotiation process is going. Yes, this is not a joke #SanctionsKill
Story funnily talks about the "interim president" when not even the opposition delegation uses this ridiculous term anymore. Also, the EU and Canada have nothing to be proud about in their history, but even for their standards it's a bit too low to be lapdogs to these shenanigans
If we ranked the biggest imperialist cheerleaders on the Hill, Bob Menéndez would be near the top (halfwit Marco Rubio is the runaway leader). Case in point is this statement by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee w/ the ever eager acolytes (thread) foreign.senate.gov/press/chair/re…
First off, a salute to countries like the Baltics who took a break from whitewashing and glorifying their nazi-collaborating pasts to lend a hand to the murderous empire du jour. The statement is a litany of outrageous nonsense, or half-decent jokes depending on how you read it
"We express our support for Vzla’s National Unity Platform,as it represents the will of the Vzlan people" Really? This platform didn't exist until 2 weeks ago when the opp. realized it needed a name. Also, empires + puppets talking about "will of the Vzlan people", never gets old
Back in action! Wonderful news that the Venezuelan Productive Workers' Army has engaged in a "productive battle" once again after a long hiatus due to the crisis and later the pandemic. The volunteer workers have been in the Che Guevara Commune (Mérida state) this week (cont)
They have been hard at work repairing/improving the industrial machinery and infrastructure at the Che Guevara Commune's coffee production cooperative. As always, a lot of emphasis on maintenance and safety. Here are some photos
The Productive Workers' Army is an awesome and inspiring organization. A group of volunteer workers that visits state companies or grassroots organizations to repair and boost their productive capabilities. Follow this link to know more about them venezuelanalysis.com/video/14589
Cherished Venezuelan traditions: Yare "Dancing Devils", Llanero music, the pabellón criollo dish and opposition infighting. Here's a thread on how an opposition that's very short on bullets insists on using them on its own feet
After years boycotting elections, with self-proclaimed @jguaido unable to extend his power beyond the lower half of his drinks cabinet and with no US intervention coming to save them, anti-government politicians have been slowly edging back towards electoral participation
A moderate sector with some veteran operators like Claudio Fermín broke w/ the hardliners in 2019, ran in the Dec 2020 legislative elections (not very successfully) and decided to field a unified list for the November 21 "mega-elections"