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Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela, smiles during a press conference at Miraflores Palace on February 17, 2021 in Caracas, Venezuela.
Eli Lake, Bloomberg Reviews
The strong man from Venezuela looks desperate. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Nicolas Maduro begs US President Joe Biden to lift the crippling sanctions against his country imposed by former President Donald Trump.
If Venezuela cannot produce and sell oil, cannot produce and sell its gold, cannot produce and sell its bauxite, cannot produce iron, et cetera, and cannot earn income in the market international, how is it supposed to pay the Venezuelan bondholders? he said. This world must change. This situation must change.
It’s tempting to concede his point. Trump’s policies imposing sanctions, attempting to channel humanitarian aid directly to Venezuelan citizens and recognizing the head of the Venezuelan legislature as its interim president have failed to produce free and fair elections.
At the same time, it’s important to remember that the Venezuelan economy was in free fall before the United States imposed sanctions. Indeed, hyperinflation and the collapse of the oil sector have more to do with the socialist policies and corruption of the Maduro regime than with the economic sanctions imposed on him for stealing the 2018 elections.
There is a fundamental flaw in Maduros’ efforts to persuade Biden to relax sanctions against his country: The root cause of Venezuela’s misery is Maduro himself. He chose to fill his country’s Supreme Court after the opposition routed his ruling party in the 2015 legislative elections. Maduros’ buddies on that court effectively chose to dissolve and replace the National Assembly in 2017. The political and economic crisis in Venezuela is making Maduros.
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