DAN KOVALIK, dkovalik at outlook.com, @danielmkovalik
Kovalik is a human rights lawyer and author of the recently-released book The Plot To Overthrow Venezuela and the forthcoming No More War.
He said today: “While countries like Cuba, China and Russia are sending personnel and aid to other countries to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government has sadly pivoted in the other direction — tightening sanctions against countries like Iran and Venezuela, and even sending warships to the Caribbean on the pretext of fighting drug trafficking, allegedly from Venezuela. However, the U.S. government’s own data belies the Trump administration’s claims about Venezuela as some type of narco-state.”
“Instead, the White House’s current actions are about old-fashioned imperial plunder, and in particular, the plunder of Venezuela’s oil. And, the U.S. government appears fully prepared to exploit the current pandemic crisis to achieve its aims of Empire. The current naval build-up in the Caribbean appears to be the carrying out of Trump’s threats early this year to blockade Venezuela in an effort to bring about regime change. This action, combined with U.S. sanctions which have already killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans, will only increase the suffering of the Venezuelan people, especially as they struggle against the coronavirus outbreak.”