There Is No War

The truth of the measures which the “empire” would take: The U.S. threatens economic sanctions against some officials, not against the country. This might make some people take their deposits to Panama or the Caribbean, where the money is safe.

The conflicts the U.S. is currently involved in are particularly curious, to say the least. In Ukraine — a divided country with militias other than those of the central government and several hundred dead — Russia is going forward without hesitation, and the U.S. and the EU respond by economically sanctioning the Russian and Ukrainian officials responsible for the events.

As is said in Creole, “gran cosota.”* These decisions, which are actually only symbolic and lack dissuasive effect, neither solve anything that has happened there nor prevent what is going to happen. Nobody has ever said there is a war going on between Russia and the U.S. because of Ukraine. There are arguments, differences and tension — yet no war.

The Venezuelan situation is different. The government has stated on many occasions that we face (economic) warfare whose main character is the U.S. Likewise, the authorities of the mentioned country have received a huge amount of insults in the last few years from Venezuela and have been accused of being guilty of every bad thing happening in the country.

Because of these and other more recent reasons, such as the repression of citizen protests, the U.S. has made the decision to take visas from the most important officials in Venezuela’s government. In addition, it has threatened to economically sanction these people, not the country.

Having had their visas taken, many of the high government officials and their families can’t take a walk around Miami, tan on its beaches, buy in its shopping centers, or take their children to Orlando’s theme parks, all of which might be a bit unpleasant for them and their families, but not enough to make them modify their attitudes on human rights.

The Measures

This threat of economic sanctions means threatening the bank accounts that the Venezuelan officials might have in the U.S. However, given that this is only a warning given by the U.S., it gives them the chance to move the deposits to Panama or the Caribbean, where the money is safer. Furthermore, these countries profit from the Venezuelan oil. Everyone is happy this way.

No, Venezuela’s new rich men will lose a dollar, and the U.S. and the Venezuelan government will be able to share insults without hurting each other in any way whatsoever. The trade of oil and other goods continues without any interruption. Neither government intends to cause any damage to the other.

The U.S. still needs Venezuelan oil and Venezuela needs to profit from it, which make the international reserves in the Central Bank of Venezuela rise. The country wouldn’t work anymore without them. Thirty percent of these reserve currencies are spent in the North American market itself, which is as open as always to provide Venezuela with everything this country can afford. Has anybody known an economic warfare this odd?

*An accurate translation of this phrase could not be found.