Featured image: Diesel scarcity due to US sanctions is still affecting Venezuelan economy. Lines of trucks waiting to load their tanks near Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state. File photo.
Luis Vicente León, president of the polling firm Datanálisis and an outspoken anti-Chavista, highlighted this Tuesday, May 25, that 66.4% of Venezuelans agree with lifting the “sanctions” that prevent state oil company PDVSA from exchanging crude for diesel, according to a recent opinion poll released through his Twitter account @luisvicenteleon.
In a series of messages, the economist and university professor pointed out that “66.4% of Venezuelans consider that the United States should lift the ban on importing diesel to Venezuela from other countries, as it does not fulfill its objective of putting pressure on the government, but it does amplify the severe crisis that the population is experiencing and threatens the destruction of the productive apparatus.” León neglected to mention that the crisis to which he refers was been caused by the US and European economic blockade of Venezuela, and the “regime”-change operation they have launched more openly since 2019.
El abastecimiento de diésel es vital la producción y distribución de alimentos, medicamentos e incluso para el proceso de vacunación. No hay política humanitaria que pueda avanzar sin combustible. El diésel es un tema claramente humanitario que no puede politizarse.
— Luis Vicente Leon (@luisvicenteleon) May 25, 2021
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León added that 72.8% of Venezuelans believe that the “sanctions” on diesel, prohibiting its exchange for oil, “has not produced any political change in the country,” and 69.4% indicated that it has generated shortages resulting from the transportation of food, medicine, and other basic goods.
Next, León stated that 61% of Venezuelans believe that the diesel swap ban “has created or runs the risk of creating a black market for diesel that generates dramatic costs and inefficiencies for consumers, distribution, and production of goods.”
66,4% de vzlanos cree que Estados Unidos debe levantar la prohibición de importar diésel a Venezuela desde otros países, pues no cumple su objetivo de presionar al gobierno pero si amplifica la crisis severa que vive la población y amenaza la destrucción del aparato productivo.
— Luis Vicente Leon (@luisvicenteleon) May 25, 2021
RELATED CONTENT: Crisis & Critique: Trump, Biden and the Venezuelan Diesel Shortages ‘Hot Potato’
His analysis is aligned with what some liberal think tanks in the US has been saying for months, without really pointing the finger at the sanctions on PDVSA, which became much more severe in 2019, preventing the Venezuelan state oil company from making any international transactions and causing a drop in Venezuela’s revenue of 99% during 2019 alone.
Likewise, León assured that Datanálisis’ work showed that the supply of diesel is a “vital” element for the production and distribution of food, medicines, and even for the vaccination process. “There is no humanitarian policy that can advance without fuel. Diesel is a clearly humanitarian issue that cannot be politicized,” he added, apparently green-lighting the myriad other illegal sanctions that the US and Europe have imposed on millions of Venezuelans during their failed “regime”-change operation against President Maduro.
Es obvio que la negociación política se hará en base a flexibilización de sanciones, pero las medidas que afectan alimentación, salud y servicios básicos no pueden ser colocados en una mesa de negociación que puede durar meses (si no años). Eso sería éticamente inaceptable.
— Luis Vicente Leon (@luisvicenteleon) May 25, 2021
To conclude, the president of Datanálisis, Luis Vicente León, indicated that politicizing the issue of diesel is “negative” and therefore, “beyond how ethically inappropriate it would be to play with food, health, energy, and people’s work,” 68% of Venezuelans reject the diesel sanctions and “believe that it affects their lives and not the government.”
Featured image: Diesel scarcity due to US sanctions is still crippling Venezuela’s economy. Lines of trucks waiting to load their tanks near Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state. File photo.
(Ultimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
