Following a series of sanctions against officials and sectors of the national economy, the Venezuelan parliament enacted a law seeking to stop internal actions promoting international sanctions
by Pablo Meriguet – The Peoples Dispatch
On November 28, the Venezuelan National Assembly passed the “Organic Law Liberator Simon Bolivar against the imperialist blockade and in defense of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
The legislation seeks to impede political and economic activities that promote the economic sanctions that several Western countries have arbitrarily imposed on the Caribbean republic. The Act was passed after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Bolivar Act,” which seeks to prohibit all types of business between the U.S. and Venezuela.
The objective of the document approved in Venezuela is “to sanction the imposition of unilateral coercive measures and other restrictive or punitive measures, as well as actions cataloged as contrary to the security of the Nation, sovereignty, nationality, independence, self-determination, territorial integrity, cultural values, patriotic symbols and the interests of the Republic.”
For the Venezuelan legislators who approved the law, the sanctions imposed by Western countries are punitive, coercive, unilateral, and restrictive acts, and therefore constitute “a crime against humanity, within the framework of a systematic and generalized attack against the civilian population.”
Among the actions now illegal in Venezuela are the promotion of coercive or other restrictive measures against the State by other States or foreign corporations, the disregard of the legitimately constituted powers of the State.
The collaboration with foreign organizations that promote sanctions against natural interests, the hindering of foreign investments in the country, and the promotion or solicitation of armed activities against the Venezuelan people.
Sanctions against people acting against the interests of the Republic include imprisonment, political disqualification, and confiscation of assets of the persons involved.
Likewise, during the day of the approval of the “Simón Bolívar Liberator Organic Law against the imperialist blockade and in defense of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,”
The possibility of withdrawing the operating permits of social media companies acting against the interests of national security was also considered. After passing the law, legislators presented the document to the Simón Bolívar Statue in the central Plaza Bolívar of Caracas.
Venezuela under siege
Since 2014, Venezuela has been under a complex and comprehensive regime of unilateral coercive measures, or sanctions, imposed mostly by the United States and the European Union.
The over 1,000 measures which have been imposed on the Bolivarian Republic in the last decade are vast. Individual officials from the Bolivarian government, and in some cases even their family members, have had their visas revoked, their assets and property seized, and some have even had million-dollar bounties placed on their heads by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Entire sectors of the Venezuelan economy have also been hard hit, especially the oil sector and the state company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The oil sector sanctions even went so far as to sanction any foreign company that attempted to engage in transactions with PDVSA.
After Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president, the U.S. and its allies seized the majority of Venezuela’s foreign assets, including around USD 8 billion in bank accounts and gold reserves, as well as key state enterprises abroad like CITGO and Monomeros.
In some cases, these assets were handed over to the Guaidó led opposition. Later investigations found that Guiadó and his allies embezzled significant sums of money and ran the state-owned companies into the ground due to mismanagement.
The series of sanctions imposed under the Trump administration from 2017-2019 caused a drastic 90 percent decline in the country’s GDP, which impacted the population’s overall quality of life, access to food, medicine, and vital supplies, as well as public sector jobs and the ability of the state to maintain social programs and a functioning administration.
Through these sanctions, which have been varied and severe, the U.S. and its allies have sought to punish the people of Venezuela for their model of transformation.
With the promotion of the “Organic Law Liberator Simon Bolivar against the imperialist blockade and in defense of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” the aim is to stop internal activities that in any way promote the undermining and weakening of the national economy and thus seek to promote a change of government in the country.
