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US Sanctions

Human Rights Watch Outflanks Trump

It’s been over 100 days since Donald Trump’s return to the presidency. Most NGOs to the right of the Heritage Foundation are alarmed about his confrontational international posture and related erosion of the rule of law. Human Rights Watch (HRW), a supposedly liberal organization, is also concerned. But their problem is that the president hasn’t gone far enough – at least in the case of Venezuela. HRW’s latest report on Venezuela calls for intensified illegal measures that cause misery and death, outflanking Trump from the right. At issue for HRW is last July’s Venezuelan presidential election that saw Nicolás Maduro declared the winner.

They Are Making Venezuela’s Economy Scream

Before 2017, Venezuela relied on its oil revenue for 95% of its export earnings. Moreover, oil revenue has been critical for financing the government’s progressive social agenda. This loss has caused inflation in Venezuela to soar: according to official Central Bank of Venezuela numbers from 2019, the highest inter-annual inflation rate was 344,510%, meaning prices increased by a factor of 3,400 in a single year. This is an unimaginable disaster for any country and an enormous strain on the population. While Venezuela has been under attack by the US government and its allies since Hugo Chávez’s first election in 1998, Trump’s 2017 Executive Order 13808 set off a new wave of financial sanctions that denied Venezuela access to international credit markets, severely undermining its ability to sell oil abroad.

Israel Hovers Over Iran-US Nuclear Talks

Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the United States and Israel have been zealous in their efforts to disempower it.  Israel has used its powerful hasbara (propaganda) machine to peddle absurdities about Tehran as a nuclear threat to the region and the world.    For refusing to bend to U.S.-Israeli demands to abandon the Palestinian cause and for standing against their hegemonic plans for the region, Iran has been the target of the most restrictive economic sanctions in history and under perpetual threat of military intervention.     Like any sovereign nation, Iran has a right to defend itself.  Nuclear weapons are a security guarantee that Iran has not sought. 

Iran Calls For Cooperation Against ‘Bullying, Unilateralism’ In China Visit

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited China and held talks with Chinese officials on 23 April, discussing several matters including bilateral cooperation and developments in West Asia, while also briefing Beijing on ongoing nuclear talks with Washington. Araghchi met with Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang to discuss “interaction within the framework of the comprehensive agreement on strategic cooperation and weighing plans to expedite the implementation of the 25-year road map,” according to Tasnim news agency. Iran and China signed the 25-year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement in March 2021. The deal includes cooperation in energy, finance, transportation, and trade, as well as military and security.

Latin America Three Months Into Trump

Nobody is complaining anymore about Latin America and the Caribbean being neglected by the hegemon to the north. The Trump administration is contending with it on multiple fronts: prioritizing “massive deportations,” halting the “flood of drugs,” combatting “threats to US security,” and stopping other countries from “ripping us off” in trade. The over 200-year-old Monroe Doctrine is alive and on steroids. But has Washington taken a sharp right turn, qualitatively departing from past practices, or simply intensified an already manifest imperial trajectory? And, from a south-of-the-border perspective, to what extent are the perceived problems “made in the USA”?

United States Sanctions Chinese Refinery Over Iran Oil Trade

The US imposed new sanctions on a Chinese refinery on 17 April, accusing it of purchasing more than $1 billion worth of Iranian oil, allegedly funding Tehran’s government and its regional allies. The move comes as Iran’s oil exports hit record highs, and nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran are set to continue in Rome this weekend. The Treasury Department announced on Thursday the sanctions against a refinery in Shandong province, which it says received dozens of shipments of Iranian crude, including from companies affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The US also blacklisted several vessels and companies tied to the shipments.

Iran, United States Begin Indirect Nuclear Talks In Oman

Indirect talks between Iran and the US have begun in Oman regarding Iran's nuclear program and economic sanctions imposed by Washington on Tehran as a result of it. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi leads the Iranian delegation, while Steve Witkoff, the US President's Special Representative for the Middle East, will represent the US side. Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidy will mediate. Iran maintains that these talks are solely about nuclear issues and has rejected negotiations regarding any of its defense capabilities, such as its missile ballistic program. "What is clear now is that the negotiations are indirect and, in our view, only on the nuclear issue, and will be carried out with the necessary will to reach an agreement that is from an equal position and leads to securing Iran's national interests," Araghchi stated Saturday.

Maduro Declares Economic Emergency Against US Tariff War

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro signed an economic emergency decree on Tuesday, April 8, during a televised meeting with telecommunications and economic leaders. He framed the move as a response to what he called a US-led “tariff war” destabilizing global trade systems, alongside the revival of the “maximum pressure” strategy aimed at suffocating Venezuela’s economy. The decree, pending approval by the National Assembly, seeks to bolster Venezuela’s economy amid escalating international tensions and US aggression. President Maduro accused the US of dealing a “definitive and total blow” to international trade institutions, including the World Trade Organization (WTO), in an effort to impose “single hegemonic dominance” over global economic rules.

Meet The DC Think Tanks Impoverishing Masses Of Latin Americans

Sanctions are a form of hybrid warfare that harms or even kills the target populations at little cost to the country imposing them. In Latin America alone, US sanctions (correctly known as “unilateral coercive measures”) have killed at least 100,000 Venezuelans. The US blockade of Cuba has been so destructive that one in ten Cubans have left the country. Sanctions have similarly deprived Nicaraguans of development aid worth an estimated $3 billion since 2018, hitting projects such as new water supplies for rural areas. Who formulates these devastating sanctions, covers up their real effects, works with politicians to put them into operation and promotes them in corporate media?

Iran Calls Trump’s Proposed Negotiation A ‘Deceptive Tactic’

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, March 12 that the US offer to talk with Iran is not credible. He claimed since the Trump administration is neither ready to address Iranian concerns nor willing to lift its illegal unilateral sanctions to prove its seriousness, Iran believes the offer of talk is an attempt to deceive world public opinion and present Iran in a bad light. He was responding to President Donald Trump’s claims during an interview with Fox Business on March 7 about writing a letter to Iran’s supreme leader offering talks over the nuclear issue.

Iran, Russia, China Reject ‘Unlawful’ US Sanctions After Tripartite Meeting

China, Russia, and Iran released a joint statement on 14 March demanding an end to “unlawful” US sanctions against the Islamic Republic after meetings in Beijing between the three countries, which were aimed at jumpstarting stalled nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington.  The three countries “emphasized the necessity of terminating all unlawful unilateral sanctions” after talks hosted by Beijing on Friday morning, according to the joint statement read out by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaxou.  “The three countries reiterated that political and diplomatic engagement and dialogue based on the principle of mutual respect remains the only viable and practical option in this regard,” read the joint statement.

Cuba Sends Doctors, The United States Sends Sanctions

On February 25, US secretary of state Marco Rubio announced restrictions on visas for both government officials in Cuba and any others worldwide who are “complicit” with the island nation’s overseas medical-assistance programs. A US State Department statement clarified that the sanction extends to “current and former” officials and the “immediate family of such persons.” This action, the seventh measure targeting Cuba in one month, has international consequences; for decades tens of thousands of Cuban medical professionals have been posted in around sixty countries, far more than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) workforce, mostly working in under- or unserved populations in the Global South.

Trump: ‘Resume Kurdish Oil Exports Or Face Sanctions’

Officials in the government of US President Donald Trump say Iraq must allow Kurdish oil exports to restart or face sanctions alongside Iran, Reuters reported on 21 February, citing eight sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Washington wants oil exports from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to resume to offset a potential fall in Iranian oil exports. President Trump has pledged to cut oil exports from Iran to zero as part of a new "maximum pressure" campaign against the Islamic Republic. On Monday, Iraq's oil minister made a surprise announcement saying exports from Iraqi Kurdistan would resume next week. 

The United Kingdom Must Push Back Against Trump’s ICC Plan

Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC), placing financial and visa sanctions on individuals and their immediate family who assist ICC investigations against Israelis and Americans. The Executive Order comes after last week’s efforts to pass a bill entitled the ‘Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act’ in Congress. The bill hit a stumbling block when it received 54 votes in favour and 45 against, falling short of the 60 votes required for it to go ahead to a final vote. Instead, Trump has issued an Executive Order to implement the sanctions.

Will The Cuban Revolution Survive The Storm Of 2025?

On January 1, Cuba officially joined the international grouping known as BRICS, as one of 13 nations incorporated as “partner states.” The date, which coincides with the 66th anniversary of the triumph of their revolution, could mark a turning point for the beleaguered socialist state. But unless the country’s leaders embrace a strategic fiscal shift in the face of an asphyxiating US blockade, the prospect of state collapse – and the unraveling of over a half century of revolutionary social development – can not be dismissed.

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Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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