Illegal US Blockade, Sanctions Will Not Stop Will of Venezuelan People – UK Amb.

Speaking on the material conditions that began the rise in US-Venezuelan tensions, Amb. Maniero stated that the US was a "superpower" that was accustomed to "having a backyard until the Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto César Sandino appeared".  

"The US was used to doing whatever it wanted, but is now faced with the post Cold-War world, where only two superpowers used to rule," Amb. Maniero said. 

"But things are different now, and since the 90s, Latin America has given preference towards China, Russia, and others, which doesn't exclusively come from Cuba and Venezuela." 

Amb. Maniero added that there was a "historical memory" supporting Latin America that arose from revolutionary leaders such as Siman Bolivar, Jose Marti, and others, and despite many of them having similar ideas, "[history] is the truth and memory of what strengthens us," she said. 

Speaking on the blockade against Venezuela, Amb. Maniero said that "US president Donald Trump wants the Monroe Doctrine back, because all superpowers have a backyard," but analysis shows that "the US is becoming more and more isolated and isn't what it was before leaders such as Chavez, Fidel, and Sandino". 

"Latin American liberator Simon Bolivar was a visionary who could see things roughly 200 years before they happened," she added. "Back then, he said that "the US appears to be put there by Divine Providence to plague Latin America in the name of ‘freedom'". 

"As time passes, things will surely change, because history and politics are not aligned like this and will change in our favour," Amb. Maniero said.

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"At this moment, President Trump needs Florida's vote and to erase any traces of progressive governments throughout Latin America, but despite this, things are changing and those that believe that Venezuela will go back to what it was are sorely mistaken. Venezuela is something incredible — it is oil, gold, and other natural resources — and President Trump wants that." 

"But it is not merely Trump," she added. "Today's conditions did not arise because of him, but from the so-called democratic, Nobel prize-winning president Barack Obama," who had initiated executive order 13692 which designated Venezuela as an "unusual and extraordinary threat to US national security" in March 2015.

"In the lebensraum of the United States, you have the idea that Latin America must do whatever the US tells it to do," she said. "It's like Mein Kampf, and we are not going to accept that. Venezuelans don't do that, and I hope that things will change, but the reality is that the blockade is there and it is doing a great deal of harm." 

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Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro met with representatives of the International Contact Group for the first time on Friday to discuss the impact of US sanctions on Venezuelans, following guarantees from EU foreign policy chief Frederica Mogherini who mulled sending a political mission to Caracas in early May. 

US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó and the Venezulan National Assembly targeted a further $3.2b in funds at 20 bank accounts from the the Maduro administration in February, and has attempted to freeze the assets with the Trump administration's help, who recognises the controversial opposition figure as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.

Sanctions have crippled the country's oil-rich economy, with US petrol company CITGO freezing $11bn in Venezuelan assets in January. Roughly $30bn in revenues have been lost due to sanctions and led to the deaths of close to 40,000 people, the Centre for Economic Policy and Research found in a damning April 2019 report. According to the Venezuelan Embassy in UK, sanctions have prevented over 6,000 patients from receiving vital medicines and roughly $400m in agricultural products have been lost due to the blockade.