US Struggles to Find Support for its Venezuela Sanctions in Latin America
Venezuela’s already tense relationship with the United States soured even further on March 9, when US President Barack Obama issued an executive order levying sanctions on seven Venezuelan government and military officials. In the language used to justify the sanctions, Obama said that Venezuela posed an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and
foreign policy of the United States” due to alleged human rights violations and general disregard for democratic processes observed during the Nicolás Maduro administration.
The sanctions prevent the selected individuals from entering the country and freeze all of their US assets. President Maduro has reacted strongly to the measures, even publishing an op-ed in the New York Times in public response to what he called “disproportionate, aggressive, and unilateral” measures by President Obama. He demanded that the US “immediately cease its hostile actions” towards Venezuela.
On the United States’s part, lawmakers consider the sanctions to be an appropriate response to what they say has been “unacceptable behavior” by the Venezuelan government for some time now. Venezuela has been embroiled in intense conflict in recent months over recent political and economic developments. Nearly from the time Nicolas Maduro took office in 2013, Venezuela has faced increasing inflation and food shortages, which in turn have led to a number of protests against the government. Maduro’s administration has responded aggressively to these protests, resulting in violent outbreaks that have caused as many as 43 deaths and 800 injuries reported so far.
The international community has condemned Maduro’s government for corruption and violation of human rights. Most recently, Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma was arrested on February 19 for allegedly inciting a coup, but the US and other critics see the charges as politically-motivated payback for Ledezma’s open opposition to Maduro.
The US has found it difficult to find other like-minded Latin American nations for support in its hardline stance against Venezuela. Many nations have come out condemning the sanctions; the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) issued a statement demanding that the US drop the sanctions, calling them “a threat to sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states.” Several state representatives have also individually decried the sanctions, including Uruguayan president José Mujica and Argentine foreign ministry. They take issue with the idea that Venezuela presents a real national security threat to the United States.
The Obama administration has also received criticism from Americans who say that the sanctions will backfire on the US. This hardline stance, some argue, may allow Maduro to use the US as a scapegoat to gain popularity and legitimacy within Venezuela and Latin America in general. These critics seem to have a point, as already the Venezuelan Congress has responded to the sanctions by granting Maduro the power to rule by decree for the next nine months. The sanctions and the situation they have created are also set to take center stage at the the upcoming Summit of the Americas meeting, where many Latin American nations are expected to show solidarity with Venezuela over the United States. As one observer from The Economist pointed out, the situation has the potential not only to antagonize the US towards Latin America in general, but also to drive a wedge in the newly improving relationship between the United States and Cuba. Cuban leader Raúl Castro has already publicly condemned the sanctions.
The concerns about the US making a scapegoat of itself by antagonizing Venezuela do have some validity in light of the United States’s reputation in the region. Almost immediately, Maduro utilized rhetoric of US imperialism to describe the sanctions because it is a convenient and politically expedient argument. The United States’s history of interventionism in Latin American politics has made it possible for modern Latin American politicians to use anti-imperialist arguments to condemn nearly any US action they dislike. This argument stirs up nationalist sentiment—a powerful force in Latin America—and generally increases support for the targeted leader.
Only time will tell whether the current situation will be enough to keep Maduro in power in Venezuela, or whether the increasing economic crisis, which is only being made worse by falling oil prices, will make the people turn against him. It also remains to be seen whether the United States’s sanctions will achieve their desired results—so far it certainly has not gained them any friends in the region. Yet the U.S. Congress is hopeful that enough pressure will be applied to cause the Maduro administration to change course to a more democratic, more “acceptable” style of governance.