Should the International Community change its approach towards Venezuela?
Venezuela is currently immersed in a huge economic and humanitarian crisis, for instance between 2013 and 2019 its economy contracted by 65%, as well as, it has unreliable or absent water and electricity supply even in big cities. What is more, Venezuela has suffered economic sanctions for years, which have further damaged the situation in the country, thus raising the question of whether there is a better way of dealing with this situation, especially now with a new government having recently been elected in the United States.
The economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration have not achieved the results that they were looking for. Instead of having obtained political changes or even a regime change, these sanctions have further exacerbated the humanitarian crisis that the country is experiencing, have also given Maduro´s regime the opportunity of further eroding the country´s democratic institutions and has left the opposition very weak, especially after the last elections. Therefore, the Biden administration has the opportunity of taking these mistakes into consideration and recalibrating their strategy, for example by revising how the economic sanctions are affecting the Venezuelan population and trying a more humanitarian approach, for instance by lifting those sanctions, which would reduce the humanitarian crisis, or progressively lifting sanctions if there is political progress in the country.
Nevertheless, it is not just the US, which needs to take action in this situation, the European Union and different Latin American countries should also take a step in trying to solve this problem. There are different measures, that have been argued that the EU should consider, like trying to agree a common position with the US, in order to have a more coordinated position that would increase the pressure on Maduro´s regime to carry out changes, especially now that the new US presidential offers the opportunity of a fresh new approach.
Moreover, for real change to be achieved, like reducing the immense instability in the country or reducing the alarmin poverty levels, common ground between the ruling regime and the opposition parties needs to be found. However, this is easier said than done, due to the fact that peace talks between these two groups have always ended in a deadlock, mainly because of the unwillingness from these two sides to make major concessions.
It is clear that the situation in Venezuela is a critical one, especially for the Venezuelan population, which are the ones suffering the most, thus it could be argued that the current measures are not working out and a more humanitarian approach, should be put in place, one that would focus on relieving the Venezuelan people from this abhorrent position in which they are now, but also taking into account that these measures need to be effective and must not create a situation, which Maduro´s regime can take advantage of. Additionally, for these measures to be effective and have the best shot at improving this situation a common position should be found between the US, EU and different Latin American countries.
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