The US has imposed sanctions on 10 Venezuelan officials it accuses of undermining democracy, corruption and censoring the press, for a total of forty, including Nicolás Maduro.
The ten have had their US assets frozen and are also banned from travelling to the country, while American businesses are forbidden to work with them.
The treasury department also issued bans against several members of Venezuela’s all-powerful Constituent Assembly, including a vice-president.
In other news,
Ambassadors of European Union member states agreed on Wednesday to impose an arms embargo on Venezuela.
They also said there would be a ban on any equipment which could be used to repress opponents within Venezuela.
The sanctions come after a UN report released in August accused Venezuela of human rights violations and using excessive force against the opposition.
Caracas Chronicles calls it A Bad Day for the Dictatorship.
Not bad enough. They’re still in charge.
UPDATE
Russia rushes to #Venezuela's rescue for the 3rd time this year! Getting in bed with incompetent #Maduro in order to pursue their own foreign policy objectives. https://t.co/P46WwGrzLn
— Prof. Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) November 9, 2017
The vultures are circling the corpse.
This is off topic but I am curious. The Caracas Chronicle article said Venezuela will most likely default on its $150 billion debt. Puerto Rico had a $70 billion debt before Maria. The population of Venezuela is 31.5 million. Puerto Rico’s is 4 million or so. How did Puerto Rico dig such a big hole with a much smaller population?
OT, Puerto Rico spent decades overspending and then refinancing old debt with new.
Venezuela didn’t get into real trouble until oil dropped below $100/bb after Chavez threw out PDVSA’s skilled workers.
2 links on PR http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/12/investing/puerto-rico-debt-crisis/index.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/puerto-rico-debt-2017-10
Puerto Rico had the advantage of being a territory of the US and is able to tap into US financial resources (or people just move to the mainland.) It is, unfortunately, polluted with the same leftist mindset that put Chavez in power, rooted in a hatred of the “gringos.” Venezuela had the advantage of a hugely profitable oil sector that raked in billions every year for sales to the US in cash until the Chavista crooks came along and ruined that with idiotic Castrist economic planning and blatant thievery. If Puerto Rico were run by leftists it would be another Venezuela, yet the leftist idiots in western democracies think they want communism and ignore the plight of countries that have it and are trying to get rid of it.
Thanks Fausta and Red.
Old Timer, and don’t try to defend your silliness with that moniker, the reason Puerto Ricans have been able to outdo the amateur Venezuelans is the “generosity” of the simple American libs/lefties/”progressives”/Democrat fools. You, whether you know it or not, will pay for the excessive generosity, the frivolousness of both the Puerto Rican and the Venezuelan socialist “experiments.” So, it don’t matter, Jim, as the song says, how this baloney in Puerto Rico, an integral part of the American teat, and in Venezuela, was allowed to develop.
Red Flowers, you have really identified the problem, and your observations are very appropriate, very accurate. Thank you and God bless you.
Karl Marx really just stole his ideas from the French Revolution and Robespierre (the worse things get, the more I have to kill). This is why communism is so violent and repressive. What amazes is how people still espouse this failed madness in spite of so many examples of how bad it really is (Venezuela being the latest). Mass murders, ruined economies, gulags, refugees, Berlin Walls, dictators, secret police, induced famines, mass relocation and murder of whole populations, etc. When given the opportunity, this is what communists do. It appears that in order to save humanity (which they profess to love, unlike the wicked capitalists who are cold-hearted) they are justified in killing a large portion of it. Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it. Don’t let leftists control your education system or write your history textbooks!
Luis,
I don’t understand why you feel the need to criticize my moniker. I picked it from the old Fibber McGee and Molly radio show of the 40’s and 50’s.
My original question was how did Puerto Rico get into such bad shape. One has to understand what the problems were in order to fix it so they will not repeat.
You have to admit that the US government isn’t setting a very good example on debt as it seems to take the easy path of borrowing to preserve the status quo. You will never have a good economy when you put money shufflers playing Robin Hood in power. They will create a beggar welfare state that enables them to stay in power with vote-getting handouts. These people want the economy to fail so they can push the country even farther to the left as they get rich off corruption like Hilary and the rest. When there is no one left to steal money from for their redistribution schemes, the real crackdown comes (or you elect Margaret Thatcher like the British did in 1979 after the Heath-Wilson socialist fiasco).
I agree. I follow what happens in Central America. Daniel Ortega could care less providing opportunities for the Nicaraguans. Those with ambition who have some “get up and go” go to greener pastures. This leaves the poor, docile and obedient.
This past summer Costa Rica ran out of money to pay her bills. The problem she had was 95% of the budget was fixed and could not be cut. The USA is headed in that direction.