US sanctions on Venezuela causes $232 billion losses since 2015
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has lashed out at the United States for imposing crippling sanctions on her country, saying Caracas has lost $232 billion since 2015 when the administration of then US President Barack Obama slapped sanctions against the Latin American nation.
"You could see the impact [of sanctions on the country] when the oil production was falling. Since 2015, the losses have amounted to $232 billion. It is easy to say, but the losses of $232 billion in the main revenue source meant back then 99 percent of the revenue in foreign currency," Rodriguez said.
She further noted that the US has imposed over 20,000 sanctions against 35 countries, adding that Washington has been "waging economic or military warfare against the entire world.”
Rodriguez went on to say that the West has introduced 929 unilateral sanctions against Venezuela alone.
She also said the economic warfare against Venezuela is equivalent to systematic human rights abuses since the people of Venezuela have been deprived of basic needs, including food, education, and healthcare.
Back in 2015, Obama issued an executive order which declared Venezuela as a threat to the national security and foreign policy of the US.
Following the decree, Obama ordered sanctions against seven officials of Venezuela, whose economy had been battered by the steep drop in global oil prices.
The executive order also authorized the US Treasury Department to freeze the foreign property and assets of several Venezuelan officials.
At the time, Venezuela condemned the order as a sign of Washington’s perpetual hostility towards the Latin American nation.
The US has expanded the sanctions regime against Venezuela since then.
The oil-rich Latin American country began going through a downward spiral of poverty as well as social and developmental stagnation in 2018, when the West, led by the United States, and its favored Venezuelan opposition contested Nicolas Maduro's victory in the presidential election.
Following the election, Western countries began slapping Caracas with a slew of backbreaking sanctions, which have been responsible for spawning the dire economic situation in the country, with millions having fled Venezuela since the onset of the crisis.
More than 7.1 million Venezuelans, as UN estimates show, have left their country and migrated to other Latin American countries or the United States amid Venezuela’s high inflation as well as food and medicine shortages following Washington’s crippling sections.
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