Sanctions

Portugal’s Novo Banco Ordered To Return $1.5 Billion To Venezuela

August 14, 2023 Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Legal System, Portugal, Sanctions, Venezuela

Venezuelan authorities have announced that Portuguese courts have ruled in favor of Venezuela and ordered Novo Banco to return $1.5 billion illegally seized from accounts belonging to the Venezuelan government, following the failed 2019 US-led regime change operation that attempted to oust President Nicolás Maduro. “Breaking news: the Bolivarian [Venezuelan] government wins trial and recovers its assets in Portugal,” wrote the Venezuelan minister for communication and information, Freddy Ñáñez, officially disclosing Portugal’s judiciary decision via social media this Wednesday, August 9. “$1.5 billion were released by Novo Banco.”

People’s Movements Worldwide: ‘Cuba Is Not A State Sponsor Of Terror!’

August 12, 2023 People's Dispatch. Resist! Cuba, Economic Blockade, Joe Biden, Sanctions, US Imperialism

On August 11, artists, intellectuals, political leaders, people’s movements, trade unions, and political parties from around the world launched a historic campaign to call on US President Joe Biden to remove Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list. The convening organizations of this campaign, the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA), ALBA Movimientos, Foro de São Paulo, Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, Jornada Continental por la Democracia y Contra el Neoliberalismo, World March of Women, Continental Latin American and Caribbean Network in Solidarity with Cuba, and La Vía Campesina, seek to collect more than one million signatures on a letter addressed to Biden asking that Cuba be removed from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

Nicaraguan Officials Hit With Sanctions Based On False Accusations

July 31, 2023 John Perry and Erik Mar, Covert Action Magazine. Educate! Human Rights, International Law, Nicaragua, Sanctions

On December 9, 2022, the government of the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Sadrach Zelodón Rocha and Yohaira Hernández Chirino, the well-known Sandinista mayor and vice mayor of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, accusing both of “promoting and supporting grievous violations of human rights.” The sanctions, subjecting both to “an asset freeze and travel ban,” also extended to members of their immediate families. As one of us has known Zeledón Rocha and the rest of his immediate family for more than 30 years, the accusations struck us mostly as false. Furthermore, if they turned out to be true, the punishments seemed strangely irrelevant given the magnitude of the crimes, since they almost certainly would have close to zero personal impact.

US Sanctions Block UN Software For Earthquake Response In Syria, Iran

July 30, 2023 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Earthquakes, Iran, Sanctions, Syria, United Nations

Life-saving humanitarian coordination software used by the UN’s emergency response network was blocked in Syria after February’s devastating earthquake because of US sanctions, Middle East Eye (MEE) reported on 28 July. The online system is also inaccessible in Iran, which has suffered from devastating earthquakes in the past, and where the rapid coordinated deployment of search and rescue teams may prove crucial to save people trapped under rubble after an earthquake in the future. The 6 February earthquake killed tens of thousands of people across hundreds of kilometers of southern Turkiye and northern Syria, but thousands of people were also saved from collapsed buildings by search and rescue teams.

The Afghanistan Lithium Great Game

July 27, 2023 Binoy Kampmark, Counter Punch. Educate! Afghanistan, Lithium, Sanctions, US Imperialism

While the United States, along with its allies, left Afghanistan in August 2021 in spectacularly humiliating circumstances, the departure was never entirely complete, nor bound to be permanent. Since then, Washington has led the charge in handicapping those who, with a fraction of the resources, defeated a superpower and prevailed in two decades of conflict. In a fit of wounded pride, the United States has, in turn, sought to strangulate and asphyxiate the Taliban regime, citing human rights and security concerns. The Taliban’s Interim Foreign Minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, makes the not unreasonable point that “the ongoing crisis is the imposition of sanctions and banking restrictions by the United States.”

Sanctions Are An Act Of War

July 23, 2023 Phyllis Bennis, In These Times. Educate! Economic Blockade, Human Rights, Sanctions, Wars and Militarism

Economic sanctions have a long and brutal history, almost as long as the history of war itself. What they don’t have— especially in recent memory— is a history of accomplishing their ostensible goal of changing governments’ behavior. Over the past 30-plus years, roughly beginning with the 1990 – 1991 Gulf crisis and U.S.-led war against Iraq, Washington’s imposition of harsh economic sanctions has vastly expanded. Whether imposed directly or compelled by the United Nations under U.S. pressure, sanctions are often described as an “alternative” to war — softer, less deadly, more humane.

Nicaraguans Celebrate Anniversary Of The Sandinista Revolution

July 20, 2023 Lauren Smith, Covert Action Magazine. Educate! History, Nicaragua, Sanctions, Sandinista Revolution, US Imperialism

In the United States, the word “socialism” has come to have a negative meaning. In that meaning, the word implies the loss of individual sovereignty, rejection of religion and the institution of authoritarian political measures. While denounced as socialist by U.S. propagandists and repeated by the ill-informed media, in fact, Nicaragua has a mixed economy based on traditional humane Christian spiritual beliefs under the concept of Sandinismo. It also encourages multiple political parties in line with genuinely social democratic ideals. The foreign media denounce the Ortega administration for its alleged oppression though, in reality, the people who have suffered at its hands are individuals and groups who have repeatedly taken part in U.S. regime-change violence against Nicaragua’s government, people and public institutions.

Sanctions: The Long Game

July 15, 2023 Ricardo Vaz, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Regime Change, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela

In the past six years, US foreign policy towards Venezuela can be encapsulated in one word: sanctions. There have been other aspects to it, like the propping up of a self-proclaimed “interim government.” But economic coercive measures have been front and center, both in terms of their widespread use and their impact on the Venezuelan people. The calls for sanctions relief have grown steadily in recent months, from multilateral organizations, some Democratic officials and even foreign policy experts. The first group points to the collective punishment of Venezuelan civilians, the second to the pressure on US borders from increased migration, and the third argues that the policies have “failed.”

Inscrutable Sanctions

July 14, 2023 Erik Mar and John Perry, Consortium News. Educate! Nicaragua, Sanctions, United Kingdom (UK), US Imperialism

The U.K., along with the U.S. and Canadian governments and the European Union, has created a sanctions regime targeting around 40 countries across the globe. While economic sanctions against states are best-known, they also include thousands of individuals whose assets have been frozen or confiscated, their travel restricted and their ability to do business constrained. Typically, names are added to a government’s sanctions lists with no prior warning or “due process.” The individuals affected are in practice unable to challenge their inclusion, since it would require expensive legal action in different countries with an uncertain chance of success.

Mexico Refuses To Bow To US Sanction Threats

June 27, 2023 Nick Corbishley, Naked Capitalism. Resist! AMLO, GMO, Mexico, Sanctions, US Imperialism

Almost three decades after NAFTA was signed, Mexico has overtaken the United States as the world leader in childhood obesity. As diets rich in native corn and other traditional foods have been supplanted by ultra-processed foods and beverages, most of them coming from the US, Mexico is now in the grip of an alarming health crisis. This issue was already discussed in a VOXEU study cross-posted here in 2018, the findings of which indicated that “across Mexican states, a one standard deviation increase in the unhealthy share of food imports from the US increases the likelihood of individuals being obese by about 5 percentage points.”

As Venezuela Mends Ties, Western Media Turn Up The Propaganda

June 25, 2023 Ricardo Vaz, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Educate! Latin America, Media, Propaganda, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela

Venezuela’s Maduro government has slowly and steadily regained its diplomatic standing in recent years, overcoming US endeavors to turn the country into a pariah state as part of its regime-change efforts. Nevertheless, Washington remains hell-bent on ousting the democratically elected Venezuelan authorities, and has kept its deadly sanctions program virtually intact. And Western media, which have cheered coup attempts at every step of the way (FAIR.org, 6/13/22, 5/2/22, 6/4/21, 4/15/20, 1/22/20), remain committed to endorsing US policies to the bitter end. This commitment was on full display recently when President Nicolás Maduro was hosted by Brazilian President Lula da Silva, in a major blow against the campaign to isolate Venezuela.

In China, German Lawmaker Calls For End To Sanctions

June 7, 2023 Sevim DaĞDelen, Geopolitical Economy. Educate! China, European Union (EU), Germany, Russia, Sanctions, Ukraine

More than ever, in times of growing geopolitical tensions and confrontational policy approaches, with intolerance and “friend-or- foe” thinking threatening to erode the primacy of diplomacy, international exchange, mutual understanding, and peaceful cooperation are of outstanding global importance. Through your academic innovation and your university’s global outlook – as reflected for example in numerous educational cooperation programmes and extensive academic exchange – you are making an important contribution, which cannot be overstated. In talking about Sino-German relations in 2023 against the background of the new era of emancipation of the Global South, we should begin by discussing a book which is important to understand the present-day situation.

Cuba: Defeat The Blockade Without Waiting For It To Be Lifted

June 7, 2023 Duane Stilwell, Black Agenda Report. Resist! Cuba, Joe Biden, Revolution, Sanctions, Socialism

Havana, Cuba — Over 1,300 delegates from 58 countries, representing 271 organizations, congregated here on May 2 to celebrate the “International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba and Anti-Imperialism – 200 Years After the Monroe Doctrine. ”The conference at the Palacio de Convenciones was the closing event in a series of gatherings that, beginning on April 25, brought union activists and other friends of Cuba from outside the island together with workers and other Cuban citizens. The goal was to acquaint international visitors with the growing systemic difficulties faced by the Cuban people due to the economic, commercial, and financial blockade the U.S. government has imposed for 61 years and to give them an opportunity to see first-hand the creative resilience with which many ordinary Cubans face the resulting scarcities and continue to resist.

Maduro Makes Historic Trip To Brazil For South American Presidents’ Summit

May 31, 2023 People's Dispatch. Educate! Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, Juan Guaido, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Nicolas Maduro, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro participated in a joint press conference on Monday May 29 from the Planalto Palace in Brasília and highlighted the importance of the neighboring countries resuming ties. The press conference was held following a bilateral meeting between the heads of state ahead of the South American Presidents’ Summit. Lula told national and international media that, “This is a historic moment. After eight years, President Nicolás Maduro is back to visiting Brazil and we have recovered our right to have a foreign policy with the seriousness we have always had, especially with the countries that border Brazil.”

Biden Calls Cuba ‘Terrorist’; People Demand US Terrorism Against Cuba End

May 30, 2023 Calla Mairead Walsh, Hampton Institute. Resist! Cuba, Joe Biden, Sanctions, Terrorism, US Imperialism

On Tuesday, May 23rd, the State Department reported that Cuba — along with Iran, Syria, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Venezuela — are not “not cooperating fully” in the United States’ supposed fight against terrorism. The Biden administration officially designates Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” (SSOT), as well as Iran, Syria, and the DPRK. Literally 0% of Americans view Cuba as a serious threat, and the Biden administration has provided no evidence of Cuba supporting terrorism in any way. Cuban and American officials even met earlier this month in Havana to discuss cooperating on anti-terrorism measures. So why is Biden keeping Cuba on the “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list?

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