The possibility of relaxing U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil to replace banned Russian oil raises a larger issue of whether they have a real effect on the Maduro regime.
By WLRN – Tim Padgett
Mar 15, 2022
Early last week word got out that top U.S. officials had met with top Venezuelan officials in Caracas and, among other issues, discussed the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil. The reason: to help make up for the Russian oil imports President Biden has now banned to punish Russia for its brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Here in South Florida, the reports have sparked an emotional debate among Venezuelan exiles – not just about the Biden Administration’s overture but about the larger question of whether the sanctions are really having the desired effect of dislodging Venezuela’s authoritarian government.
Admittedly, most reacted the way Miami business consultant and exile activist Beatriz Olavarria did:
“I mean, it’s uncomprehensible,” she told WLRN. “It’s horrible for the heart of all Venezuelans. There’s no way to think about it as a good thing.”
There is no agreement yet about easing the sanctions, and some White House officials insist there was no genuinely substantive discussion of the matter in Caracas. But responses like Olavarria’s are understandable.
In 2019 the U.S. imposed a de facto embargo on imports of oil from Venezuela – which has the world’s largest crude reserves – to weaken the ultra-corrupt, dictatorial regime of Venezuela’s socialist leader, Nicolás Maduro. The U.S., along with much of the world, doesn’t recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president. He has been Russia’s biggest cheerleader in Latin America during its Ukraine blitz.
Maduro is widely blamed for destroying Venezuela’s democracy and economy – and for forcing a fifth of the country’s population to flee abroad. U.N. investigators accuse his regime of crimes against humanity.
So the thought of the U.S. easing up on Maduro alarms Venezuelan exiles like Olavarria.
“Don’t they know who they’re dealing with?” Olavarria asked about this month’s Caracas sit-down. “It’s a high price to pay for oil. It just contradicts anything that goes against tyrants.”
Olavarria points out the sanctions the U.S. just imposed on Russia’s financial system also promised to hurt Maduro – who’s been using Russian banks to get around U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil. So Olavarria asks: Why would the Biden Administration loosen the screws on Venezuela now?
“The amount of money [Maduro and regime officials] launder through Russia is enormous,” Olavarria said.
She insisted that keeping sanctions on Venezuela while also penalizing Russia “would have been a big hit – and Maduro would have to crawl for some kind of way out. And that’s the best moment yo have to put somebody down.”
What’s more, Olavarria noted, Venezuela’s wrecked oil industry can only supply a fraction – perhaps a little more than half a million barrels a day – of what the U.S. imports.
“Where is the math?” she asked. “This agreement only would benefit Maduro. Instead it’s the U.S. that looks desperate.”
EXPIRATION DATE
But, of course, three years after the sanctions took effect not all Venezuelan expats here see it that way.
One example is a podcast produced in Miami called “Pueblo People.” It’s hosted by two Venezuelans who came to Miami eight years ago: lawyer Raul Stolk, who also directs the online Venezuelan news site Caracas Chronicles, and Oswaldo Graziani, who co-directs a cannabis business here.
Stolk and Graziani are no fans of Maduro, and they insist they understand the hardline, no-negotiation stance of expats like Olavarria. Both felt pressured into exile – especially Graziani, who in Caracas ran a satirical website called El Chigüire Bipolar, or The Bipolar Capybara. It often mocks the socialist revolution – known as Chavismo for its late founder Hugo Chávez – that Maduro now heads.
“It’s a dystopian organization,” Graziani said of the regime. “I don’t even know if it deserves to be called a government.”
“I’ve never not thought of it as a dictatorship,” said Stolk.
Still, on their podcast last week, Graziani and Stolk agreed President Biden should consider relaxing Venezuelan oil sanctions.
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Read More: WLRN – To lift or not to lift? Biden overture sparks oil sanctions debate among Venezuelans
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