Venezuela VP Delcy Rodríguez: Sanctions Are Imperialism’s Attacks on Sovereign Countries

Imperialist countries go on testing new formulas to attack the economies of sovereign countries, and one such attack consists of the 929 sanctions imposed on Venezuela, Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez commented.

During her speech at the International Seminar on National Unity for the Recovery of the Venezuelan Economy Amid International Blockade, held on Friday, April 21, Vice-President Rodríguez pointed out that currently there are “929 sanctions [on Venezuela], 60% of them imposed by the United States government, which began with President Barack Obama.”

These sanctions has caused the Venezuelan economy a loss of $232 billion, she highlighted. “It may be easy to say, but losing those resources, mainly the state’s income, is a way to completely annihilate entire nations, in this case the Venezuelan people,” she said.

“This situation led us to go to the International Criminal Court, to demonstrate that it is a systematic violation of human rights, violations that are translated into loss of life, food, and health, in short; loss of the development of a country,” Rodríguez stressed.

Regarding the private sector, she stated that due to the sanctions “the private sector in Venezuela has suffered extraordinary costs. It is very difficult for Venezuelan businesses to function because they are sanctioned.”

The seminar took place during April 20-21 at the José Félix Ribas hall of the Teresa Carreño Theater, in which delegations from several countries and multilateral organizations participated.

Blockade attacks structural bases
The Venezuelan vice president emphasized that US imperialism has continued to attack the countries of the region, for example, the coup against Evo Morales in Bolivia, which was for lithium, like the attempted coups in Venezuela have been for the mining arc.

“Imperialism has tried to plunder the resources of sovereign nations and has severely harmed the economies, against the will of the peoples,” she said. “Today the economic war has reached significant levels.”

Rodríguez went on to explain that when Venezuela was sanctioned by the risk-rating agencies, “from the next day, Venezuela was out of the international credit market. They were the servants [of imperialism] in this war. Then came the blockade against the sources generating foreign currency income, especially our oil industry Petróleos de Venezuela.”

She emphasized that the blockade “has attacked the structural bases of the nation to make the country defenseless. We are seeing how the application of unilateral coercive measures is increasing—35 countries are victims of more than 20,000 sanctions.”

“The United States is at war with the world in order to ensure its existence,” she added.

“Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean is fundamental for the processes of sovereignty in the region and to be able to face economic and political aggressions,” the vice president stressed.

A seminar for thought and reflection
At the beginning of her speech, Rodríguez said that the seminar “is an event for thought and reflection… It is of tremendous intellectual and human stature, for solidarity with the peoples of the world. This first seminar is extraordinary, and there will be many more.”

She said that she has closely followed the discussions “and they are all very interesting. They are decisive to understand what is happening in the world.”

“Even on Tik Tok the dollar crisis has arrived,” she commented.

She also explained why President Nicolás Maduro could not attend the event. “The President excused himself; his agenda yesterday was very full, with the visit of the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce,” she stated.

History of economic hegemony
On Friday, the second day of the seminar, the participants discussed the current situation and proposed actions and solutions to combat unilateral coercive measures.

Argentinian sociologist Atilio Borón was the first delegate to speak on Friday. He reviewed the history of economic hegemony, starting from the time of colonization, and how economic models have been imposed on the world through the domination of the United States.