The U.S. government should ban imports of Venezuelan oil. Yes, this would represent a major escalation to existing U.S. sanctions against Venezuela, but it’s the only viable response to President Maduro’s latest attack on democracy.
Maduro’s most recent democratic theft came Sunday, when the president’s United Socialist Party claimed victory in 17 out of 23 gubernatorial races. We can be confident that those results are a theft, in that sustained pre-vote polling that showed Maduro’s party had only marginal support. As the BBC notes, “A poll conducted by private firm Datanalisis before the election suggested 45 percent of voters intended to vote for opposition candidates and 21 percent for the governing socialist party candidates.”
Put simply, the polling should have meant a landslide for the various opposition candidates, or at the very least, mixed results. But as Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, told the AP, “There is a wide disparity between the poll numbers and the results which show that these elections were not free and fair and don’t reflect the will of the people.”
It’s not just the will of the Venezuelan people that matters here. It’s their lives. After all, Venezuela’s endemic shortage of medicine and affordable basic goods has fueled a humanitarian crisis in the world’s most oil-rich nation. As problematic, the Maduro government’s response to this crisis has been one of ever-escalating insanity. Consider, for example, the regime is now promoting rabbit breeding as a way to address child starvation.
As with Maduro’s establishment of a new legislative body to sidestep the elected (and opposition-controlled) National Assembly, Sunday’s gimmick election proves he has no intention of political outreach or economic reform.
If it is truly serious about alleviating the suffering of the Venezuelan people, the Trump administration now has no other choice than to hit Maduro where it hurts most: his wallet. Venezuela’s oil exports are the regime’s lifeline, defining its capital reserves. Were the U.S. to cut them off, Maduro would struggle to pay off those he needs to survive and stay in power — namely, the Venezuelan military and security forces.
Yes, in the short term, an oil embargo would also be damaging to the Venezuelan people. Yet it is the medium and long term that matters most here: the people’s suffering will only grow worse until the Maduro regime is forced either to change course or to yield power.
Short of using military force, forcing Maduro to respect democracy must be the overriding priority of U.S. policy towards Venezuela.
