Letter: Hands off Venezuela, no to sanctions

One year ago a small cabal of Venezuelan students on campus decided they would slander the legitimate government of Venezuela. They draped a banner in the Student Union that read: “S.O.S. Venezuela.” Blood dripped from the words, implying that the government had drowned the “opposition” (confined almost exclusively to wealthy and upper-class neighborhoods) with violence. In reality, the Venezuelan government was extraordinarily lenient with protestors, and casualties were split almost evenly between often violent demonstrators and pro-government supporters. The anti-Maduro Venezuelan students on UT’s campus often represent the same narrow sliver of socioeconomic wealth from which the opposition in Venezuela derives its base.

Now these same students have sunk to a new nadir. They are calling for sanctions against their own government. Valentina Diaz Trejo argues that “Venezuela benefits from sanctions” in her opinion piece from March 25, 2015. She explains that the government has been involved in “fraudulent actions” such as “stealing billions of dollars” from citizens and “drug dealing” (which, aside from it being an absurd claim, does not qualify a government for sanctions). She attempts to portray a government on the verge of collapse, and cites an awkward combination of “facts,” curiously absent of many statistics, to support her claim (Caracas is a dangerous city, there is inflation and unemployment, etc., none of which qualify a government for sanctions). Here is what Ms. Trejo ignores:

1) Since 2002, the free government program Misión Robinson has taught more than 2.3 million people how to read and write. In 2007, the literacy rate for 15-24 year olds of both sexes was above 98%.

2) Due to programs such as the National Technological Literacy Plan, which provides free software and computers to schools, 35.63% of Venezuelans were Internet users by 2010.

3) The primary school completion rate for both sexes has increased from 80.8% in 1991 to 95.1% in 2009.

4) Infant mortality rates have reduced from 28 per 1,000 in 1990 to 16 per 1,000 in 2010 (a 46% drop).

5) The amount of people living in poverty in Venezuela has decreased from 54.5% in 1997 to 33.2% in 2011, while those in extreme poverty have reduced from 29.8% in 2003 to 6.8% in 2011.

6) The percentage of the population with sustainable access to drinking water has increased from 68% in 1990 to 92% in 2007.

7) Wealth inequality according to the GINI index (the lower the number the more equal) has reduced from 48.8 to 39.02 in 2011 (Venezuela is now *more* equal than the United States).

8) From 1995 to 2011 the share of wealth of the poorest 20% has increased from 4.3 to 5.7%, while the wealth of the richest 20% has decreased from 51.8 to 44.8%.

9) Since 1998, the Chavez/Maduro government has won FIVE presidential elections, and their party, the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, has won a dozen regional, parliamentary, and referendum votes in what former U.S. president Jimmy Carter called “the best election system in the world.”

She then cites the “death and imprisonment of many students and opposition leaders,” utterly failing to mention the murders of pro-government forces, including many civilian supporters, by opposition thugs and terrorists. The opposition engaged consistently in a variety of activities that disrupted Venezuelan society, even blocking roads and interrupting daily life. The government’s response was overwhelming patience.

Aside from the delusions of wealthy Venezuelan expatriates in Toledo and other U.S. cities, there is nothing the Venezuelan government has done that warrants sanctions. The primary reason they want to apply sanctions is because Chavez, Maduro, and the PSUV have threatened both the cupidity of the ruling class in Venezuela and challenged US hegemony in the region. As scholar George Ciccariello-Maher has argued in Jacobin magazine, “While the Venezuelan opposition in Venezuela is almost as delusional as the Venezuelan self-exiles in Miami [or Toledo], there’s one big difference: opposition leaders on the ground have to live with the consequences of their catastrophic decisions… [Thus] while radical right-wingers in Florida [or Ohio] may be celebrating the sanctions, it would be suicidal for the opposition in Venezuela to do the same. They would simply prove what Chavistas already believe: that they are treasonous lapdogs of imperial power.”

Indeed, students at UT and people of conscience should not fall for the narrative espoused by “treasonous lapdogs of imperial power.” It is imperative, now more than ever, that progressive forces here in the US and around the world stand up and say “No to Sanctions!” and “Hands Off Venezuela!” Within just over a week four million Venezuelans signed a petition condemning sanctions against their country. We ought to listen to the millions of urban workers and campesinos, not the spawn of the elite here at UT.

— Derek Ide and Robbie Abdelhoq, president and VP of Friends of Venezuela Society