Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Trump administration prepares to add Venezuela to list of state sponsors of terrorism
Trump administration prepares to add Venezuela to list of state sponsors of terrorismBy John Hudson and Lena H. Sun November 19 at 7:43 PM
The Trump administration is preparing to add Venezuela to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in what would be a dramatic escalation against the socialist government of Nicolás Maduro, according to U.S. officials and internal government emails.
The list is reserved for governments accused of repeatedly providing “support for acts of international terrorism” and includes only Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
Republican lawmakers led by Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) have pushed for the designation, citing Venezuela’s alleged ties to Lebanese Hezbollah, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and other groups.
Republicans have long accused Venezuela of having ties to terrorist organizations. But experts have played down the threat and strength of those connections. They warn that a designation that does not offer concrete evidence could weaken the legitimacy of the U.S. list, which critics say already is applied inconsistently.
“I suspect this will be based on hearsay and sources of questionable integrity,” said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America.
U.S. officials declined to say whether a final decision had been made about the designation, but in recent days the State Department has asked for feedback on the proposed move from various agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is part of HHS, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the pending decision, calling inquiries about the deliberations a “hypothetical question.”
Rubio, a Cuban American who organized a letter in late September calling for the terrorism designation, has clamored for a tough U.S. posture toward Venezuela, a longtime backer of the Castro regime in Cuba.
The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on a number of people in Maduro’s inner circle, accusing the first lady, defense minister, vice president and other allies of helping the socialist leader “plunder” the nation’s wealth.
Officials have long said that further measures are under consideration, including an embargo on Venezuelan oil. Despite sharply falling oil exports in recent years, Venezuela is the fourth-largest foreign supplier to the United States, which remains the largest purchaser of Venezuelan crude.
The list is reserved for governments accused of repeatedly providing “support for acts of international terrorism” and includes only Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
Republican lawmakers led by Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) have pushed for the designation, citing Venezuela’s alleged ties to Lebanese Hezbollah, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and other groups.
Republicans have long accused Venezuela of having ties to terrorist organizations. But experts have played down the threat and strength of those connections. They warn that a designation that does not offer concrete evidence could weaken the legitimacy of the U.S. list, which critics say already is applied inconsistently.
“I suspect this will be based on hearsay and sources of questionable integrity,” said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America.
U.S. officials declined to say whether a final decision had been made about the designation, but in recent days the State Department has asked for feedback on the proposed move from various agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is part of HHS, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the pending decision, calling inquiries about the deliberations a “hypothetical question.”
Rubio, a Cuban American who organized a letter in late September calling for the terrorism designation, has clamored for a tough U.S. posture toward Venezuela, a longtime backer of the Castro regime in Cuba.
The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on a number of people in Maduro’s inner circle, accusing the first lady, defense minister, vice president and other allies of helping the socialist leader “plunder” the nation’s wealth.
Officials have long said that further measures are under consideration, including an embargo on Venezuelan oil. Despite sharply falling oil exports in recent years, Venezuela is the fourth-largest foreign supplier to the United States, which remains the largest purchaser of Venezuelan crude.
-snip-
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-prepares-to-add-venezuela-to-list-of-state-sponsors-of-terrorism/2018/11/19/1ba65b74-ec01-11e8-baac-2a674e91502b_story.html?utm_term=.cefb6de32c1f
Despite the histrionics out of Caracas, the sanctions are:
1. No refinancing of PdVSA debt (ie no more Goldman Sachs "hunger bonds" )
2. No US citizen can do business with approximately 40 corrupt Chavista officials.
No one is preventing any other country from throwing good money down the rat-hole of Venezuela. Venezuela's two biggest debt holders are no longer loaning so much as a ruble or yuan anymore. Venezuela can also buy as much medicine and food as they want from anyone, including the US. As a matter of fact, the US and EU has offered the Chavistas FREE humanitarian aid (refused), but that doesn't keep Maduro and his ilk from insisting that the US is preventing them from buying food.
As far as a state sponsor of terrorism? The ELN (the reincarnation of FARC) out of Colombia have been given safe haven in Venezuela for nearly 20 years. They even plaster their propaganda on CLAP boxes.
