The sanctions once morest Venezuela imposed by the United States almost five years ago have divided businessmen and opposition sectors between those who call for their lifting to curb the economic impact and those who advocate their continuation to pressure the government.
Recently, a group of academics, researchers, businessmen and activists sent a letter to the president of USA, Joe Bidenin which they asked to continue with “substantive and productive negotiations to resolve the Venezuelan crisis”, focused on lifting the sanctions, which “did not achieve their objective” of removing Nicolás Maduro from power.
The letter was heavily criticized by another opposition sector, which sent a letter demanding that the sanctions be strengthened to prevent the “tyranny” from being perpetuated, because they do not consider that the crisis is the product of these measures, but of “the thefts» of funds intended to improve services.
The sanctions, “a tremendous damage”
Economist Víctor Álvarez explained to Efe that the sanctions applied since 2017 have done “tremendous damage to the economy and society” due to their effects not only on public companies, but also on private companies and humanitarian organizations.
“Private companies have had accounts closed in the United States, in banks and in the financial system of the United States, they have lost lines of credit. The suppliers, who sold them raw materials, supplies, spare parts, machinery (and) equipment, simply do not want to do business with Venezuela,” Álvarez explained.
He noted that the “services crisis” has worsened because public electricity, water, gas and telecommunications companies have also lost their suppliers.
In his opinion, it would be “absurd” to argue that socioeconomic conditions have improved thanks to measures that were applied with the aim of “financially drowning the regime and hitting the economy and society so that discontent leads to a social explosion that brings down the government”.
Five years following the imposition of the first sanctions – he explained – these still “have not fulfilled the objective” of “overthrowing” Maduro, who “is more screwed than ever”, while the opposition “looks very divided and weakened”.
The sanctions, he considered, have also given the government the “perfect pretext to build an entire narrative of epic anti-imperialist resistance.”
In favor of sanctions
Economist Omar Zambrano, contrary to Álvarez, considered that there is “a temporal coincidence between the validity of sectoral sanctions and the rebirth of Venezuelan economic activity, which had been dragging on for almost eight years of recession.”
Zambrano told Efe that Venezuela has seen the level of its economic activity improve in the last three years, producing “higher levels of well-being,” despite the coercive measures.
He indicated that per capita income in dollars since 2020 “has recovered more than 100%” and that, as of 2017, “the import levels of medicines and food have grown due to the recovery of the private sector.”
“The worst of the crisis is over, and Venezuela’s economy, sectors and socioeconomic indicators are beginning to recover in an environment where there are sanctions (…) the crisis was formed without sanctions and with sanctions we are coming out of the crisis,” he assured.
Losses
On April 25, the executive vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, stated that the “more than 502 coercive measures” have violated “massively the human rights of the people”, although most do not affect the public economy, but weigh on the assets. of officials and members of Chavismo, or regarding their ability to mobilize.
The official, who did not clarify that difference between some sanctions and others, explained that the country’s income went from 52,609 million dollars in 2013 to “barely” 743 million in 2020, which means a drop of 99% in 7 years.
However, there were losses, because as a result of the sanctions, the state oil company PDVSA was forced to apply, according to Álvarez, “huge discounts” on the sale of crude oil that it previously placed in sanctioning countries that stopped buying, as in the case from the United States.
According to the Ecoanalítica firm, PDVSA lost 4,000 million dollars in 2021 in discounts to negotiate its crude.
Given this situation, Álvarez proposes the creation of internationally supervised funds in which the additional income that Venezuela receives following a lifting of sanctions is deposited, to guarantee that they are destined to attend to the “humanitarian emergency.”
However, for Zambrano, “the public sector has different objectives than solving the knots of the humanitarian crisis”, which was evidenced, in his opinion, in the “sale of 49% of the refinery in the Dominican Republic (Refidomsa), money that did not necessarily go to meet humanitarian needs”