Protest against US aggression against Venezuela. Photo: Bill Hackwell.
By Mision Verdad – Jul 21, 2023
This year, the three bills were introduced in the US Congress against Venezuela: the Prohibition of Transactions and Leases with Venezuela’s Illegitimate Authoritarian Regime Act, the Venezuelan Human Rights “AFFECT” Act, and the Venezuelan Democracy Act. The bills have a common denominator: to increase the pressure of the blockade and impose on it a framework of “humanitarian assistance”.
The focus of this article is the Venezuelan Democracy Act which was introduced in the newly installed US Senate last March. The bill was put together by five Republicans: Jim Risch, Marco Rubio, Bill Hagerty, Rick Scott, and John Barrasso, who fall under the influence of the lobby of energy companies and corporations that mobilize large sums of money to purportedly rebuild and assist needy countries.
The law is an aspirational mega project of administrative-interventionist management against Venezuela beginning with the outline of the plan that they would like to apply in a next scenario of coercion. Through its articles, the law seeks to establish the guidelines for the entire US state structure to engage in a not-so innovative operation against Venezuela, namely:
• “Peaceful” transition.
• Resumption of economic growth in Venezuela.
• Imposition of “sanctions” on the Venezuelan government and any successor they deem “undemocratic”.
• Assistance and financing.
This “strategy” did not appear out of nowhere. It is a known and imposed modus operandi in other countries such as Haiti and Syria, and has also been described in reports such as the one published in December 2022 by the Woodrow Wilson Internation,al Center for Scholars, “Venezuela in 2023 and Beyond: Charting a Different Course” which shows what is essentially included in this law.
“Transition and assistance”
Two sections address a route of “peaceful transition.” One on the “requirements to determine whether a transitional government is in power in Venezuela” and another on the policy towards “a transitional government and a democratically elected government” which, in general lines and beyond the obvious intrusion, peek in the background of new steps to change the government of Venezuela, highlighting initiatives that will seem to emerge from any group representing so-called “civil society” and in which “the self-determination of the people” can be recognized, to encourage them to “empower themselves with a government.”
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In the terms of that longed-for passage from a transitional government to a government per se, these congressmen dare to add that the democratic government to be elected “democratically” according to their criteria and interests will result from “an expression of the self-determination of the people.” The pressure strategy will have the same objective of changing the government but by more “spontaneous” means.
In the same section, they assert in the face of a “difficult” transition, the US administration as a whole must be prepared to provide “humanitarian assistance,” an area where they really do business and project their political interests.
It is further described that the Export-Import Bank of the United States will be part of the agencies that will be involved in this assistance. It should be noted that the Export-Import Bank finances exports of US products and services to international markets.
Matthew Rooney, a former State Department official and advisor to the George W. Bush Institute think tank, explained in a 2019 article that the US Congress budgets annual dollar amounts to influence and pressure foreign governments to support and prioritize US interests in the US and in the given region.
The law also refers to the distribution of resources under that “assistance” explaining that in order for them to “reach the people,” US agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) must be used, a matter on which there is already a precedent: the corruption that was uncovered by the diversion of “humanitarian aid” funds in 2019 courtesy of the Guaidó gang.
These irregularities in resource distribution are well known in US power groups. Economist and Stockholm University professor Jakob Svensson described in his book Foreign Aid and Rent-Seeking that “the inflow of aid negatively affects a developing economy because these resources are diverted from productive activities to rent-seeking activities by individuals from elite social groups in the economy.”
In the end, embezzlement goes hand in hand with these not-at-all altruistic initiatives: a macabre symbiosis of big business management.
Around this scheme of “assistance to the people of Venezuela” these congressmen added a segment dedicated to providing assistance in the preparation of Venezuelan military forces once a new government is established.
This subsection differs from other legislation because it goes beyond the commercial and political sphere and enters the field of defense and sovereignty. This US approach is not surprising, since the US has been promoting for some time a recipe for interference in various countries. The objective of the international agenda of the White House is to achieve control over the armed forces of a country in order to guarantee US interests.
More blockade, more “sanctions
In order to prevent any type of financing to the Venezuelan government, a section on the imposition of “sanctions” states that the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States will have the power to withhold any payment or loan approved by an international financial institution, such as the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, among others.
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In addition, to expand the range of action of this initiative, it is stated that the US government shall encourage other governments to restrict any commercial and credit relationship with Venezuela. Further, the law stipulates that coercive measures will be imposed on any foreign government that offers aid or assistance to the Venezuelan government.
A paragraph encourages the prevention of any funding to PDVSA, since the license to Chevron is an action that has disturbed these senators; as Republican Risch said last year: “We are deeply concerned about the Biden administration’s plans to once again ease sanctions”.
A review of this bill shows that its wording is intended to stand as a Constitution for Venezuela, courtesy of the United States.
If enacted, this bill could potentially nullify any avenue to normalize bilateral relations between Venezuela and the United States.
