Page 10 - NorthAmOil Week 07 2021

NorthAmOil POLICY NorthAmOil

Washington draws

criticism from GAO,

UN for Venezuela

sanctions

US-VENEZUELA THE US government is drawing criticism for curbs imposed last year on gasoline swaps, but it
sanctions on Venezuela and its national oil com- did attribute the country’s problems to the Ven-
pany (NOC) PdVSA, with US legislators and at ezuelan government’s long-standing misman-
least one government agency joining the UN in agement of the economy and the oil industry.
asserting that trade restrictions have intensified
the South American state’s humanitarian crisis. UN weighs in
On the domestic side, the US Government These statements came several days before Alena
Accountability Office (GAO) recently pub- Douhan, a UN envoy, published a preliminary
lished a report arguing that the sanctions report that attributed Venezuela’s humanitarian
regime harmed Venezuelans by thwarting the and economic crisis to the sanctions imposed by
distribution of humanitarian aid. It referred the US and the EU. Speaking at a press briefing
specifically to the actions taken by the admin- held to mark the release of the report, she said:
istration of former President Donald Trump to “Unilateral sanctions increasingly imposed by
restrict access to financial markets, saying that the United States, the European Union and other
aid groups had not been able to process the bank countries have exacerbated the abovementioned
transactions needed to carry out their missions. calamities.”
It also pointed to widespread fuel shortages, say- Douhan did concede that mismanagement
ing that PdVSA’s difficulties with respect to pro- and corruption had contributed to the crisis in
ducing and importing petroleum products had Venezuela. However, she also argued that the
prevented the country from obtaining enough country had been in decline since world crude
diesel to keep public transportation moving, oil prices crashed in 2014, before the US govern-
sustain power generation and distribute food. ment first sanctioned high-ranking Venezuelan
Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the chairman of the officials in 2015 and then imposed restrictions
House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Com- on PdVSA in 2017.
mittee, cited the report on February 9, when The Trump administration tightened the
he called on the administration of President sanctions regime in early 2019. It did so in
Joe Biden to ensure that trade restrictions did response to the presidential election held in
The DoS also not complicate efforts to render humanitarian December 2018, which saw the incumbent
assistance to Venezuela. He called the addi-
Nicolas Maduro gain a second term amidst
noted that tional sanctions imposed during Trump’s term widespread claims of voter fraud. Maduro’s
the Biden a “failed policy” and urged Washington to work main critic was opposition leader Juan Guaido,
more closely with the EU and the Lima Group, who declared the vote illegitimate in early 2019
administration a multi-lateral organisation formed by 12 coun- and assumed the post of interim president.
tries in 2017 in the hope of resolving Venezuela’s
Washington backed Guaido’s claim to power
was conducting political and economic crises, to help deliver aid. and imposed stricter sanctions on Cara-
Meeks was speaking on the same day that the cas, expanding trade restrictions to include
a review of US Department of State (DoS) issued a state- PdVSA. This move caused great financial hard-
sanctions policy ment expressing Washington’s desire to pro- ship, as it severely curtailed PdVSA’s ability to
vide the South American state with assistance, export crude oil, the country’s main source
“across the especially since the sanctions regime does not of hard currency revenues. Subsequently, the
impose penalties on humanitarian aid. “[If] Trump administration expanded the range of
board”. there are ways that we can provide additional the sanctions regime to cover financial insti-
humanitarian assistance, if there are ways that tutions, shipping companies and other entities
we can further alleviate the suffering of the involved in Venezuelan oil exports. As a result
Venezuelan people, we will certainly do so,” it of these moves, PdVSA struggled to secure the
commented. parts and equipment needed to keep its pro-
The DoS also noted that the Biden admin- duction, processing and refining facilities in
istration was conducting a review of sanctions good working order. Subsequently, crude out-
policy “across the board”. It did not say when any put plummeted and domestic fuel shortages
decisions might be made on proposals to lift the became common.™

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