Rhetoric AP 2 op ed_ The US needs to stay out of Venezuela

Why the US and other countries should stop meddling with Venezuela
76.6%, 21,448,000 people of 28,000,000 living in Venezuela. That is the percentage of
people living below the poverty line in Venezuela as of 2021. What does living below the
poverty line mean exactly? It means choosing between feeding yourself or feeding your
children. It means wandering the streets of Caracas in search of food or the kindness of a
stranger. It means waiting in long lines for a piece of bread and hoping you find water along
the way. It means being pushed to the limit in which your only choices are leaving your
country, your home, in search of opportunity in foreign lands or staying and possibly dying
because your government has failed you. You may be wondering what the hell this has to
do with the U.S, well let me tell you something real quick the U.S couldn’t keep it’s nose out
of others business, once again.
source: CSNAS

Twenty-four. That’s the total number of sanctions the U.S has placed on Venezuela, mostly
sectoral and individual sanctions on people that have connections to president Nicolas
Maduro. In a close call Columbia comes in with 21, Panama 13, and tied in 4th place are
Liberia and the Marshall Islands with 10. The first sanction was placed in 2014 by then
president Barack Obama as a response to the Venezuelan government’s violation of human
rights. At first it seemed like a great idea, to limit and pressure the venezuelan government
to provoke change in regime and possibly free the venezuelan people, but after more than
6 years not much has changed, if not things have gotten noticeably worse. With the U.S
placing sanctions on Venezuelas vessel and transportation (in an attempt to cut oil exports)
it squeezed Venezuela's pockets further weakening its economy. The result? “U.S. sanctions
have contributed to a steep drop in Venezuelan imports. The report finds that the value of
average monthly public imports dropped by 46 percent (to $500 million) in 2019 and
another 50 percent (to $250 million) in 2020”(WOLA) provoking shortages. With the
government's pockets being tightened even more, they cut the already minimal support
they were giving their people, leading to long bread and water lines, starvation, and an
even further decline in health care availability. Those aren’t the only horrible effects.
We cannot deny the U.S had disguised imperialist intentions when placing these sanctions
as an attempt to provoke regime change to a regime more pleasing to the U.S. As an
attempt to stop China, Russia, and their allies’ advancement in Venezuela the U.S needed to
pull a classic card, regime change. In this attempt to demand change they were willing to
further worsen starvation among the venezuelan population in order to keep Venezuela as
a pawn in their little empire game. Sanctions might have done just the opposite, with the
U.S limiting Venezuelans exports and imports “Venezuela has sought to evade U.S.
sanctions by utilizing Iranian-owned tankers for illicit deliveries and transport of gasoline
and oil”(CSNAS). Drawing them closer to the U.S’ enemies, exactly the opposite of what was
intended.

Many argue that sanctions were placed with “good intentions”; According to Share America
“U.S sanctions are designed to ensure that Maduro and his cronies don’t profit from illegal
gold mining, state-operated oil operations or other business transactions” but since when
do good intentions forget to keep the Venezuelan people in mind? Pushing these sanctions
is further pushing for a U.S led regime change. I mean tell me Share America when has a U.S
pushed regime change ever ended up well? The U.S has “intervened successfully in Latin
America at least 41 times”, many died, The U.S gained control, and now there is restless
internal conflict in all of Latin America.
To wrap this up I have one last statement. As a Latin American immigrant myself I’ve seen
first-hand the struggle of the internal conflicts in our countries caused by outside forces.
The struggles of our motherlands being treated like nothing pawns in a messed up game by
selfish Imperialism. China and Russia please stay out of it; Biden please stay out of it. Let the
Venezuelan people start their own revolution, their own regime change. Give them
freedom , choice, and sovereignty. And to my fellow Latin Americans I encourage you to
take upon our hands to sculpt our own futures, provoke our own change. There will never
be true change unless we do it ourselves. President Maduro is no doubt horrible but a U.S
intervention and regime change will only lead to a further mess in the long term.
Works Cited
American Security (En-US),
https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/sanctions-by-the-numbers-3.
“America's Role in Latin American Regime Change.” Anadolu Ajansı,
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/america-s-role-in-latin-american-regime-change/
1404970.
Noelani Kirschner, et al. “U.S. Sanctions on Venezuela Explained.” ShareAmerica, 10
Feb. 2021,

https://share.america.gov/u-s-sanctions-venezuela-explained/#:~:text=U.S.%20sancti
ons%20are%20designed%20to,activity%20and%20human%20rights%20abuses.
Person. “Extreme Poverty in Venezuela Rises to 76.6% - Study.” Reuters, Thomson
Reuters, 29 Sept. 2021,
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/extreme-poverty-venezuela-rises-766-stud
y-2021-09-29/.
Wola. “New Report Documents How U.S. Sanctions Have Directly Aggravated
Venezuela's Economic Crisis.” WOLA, 29 Oct. 2020,
https://www.wola.org/2020/10/new-report-us-sanctions-aggravated-venezuelas-eco
nomic-crisis/.