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U.S. President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order March 9, 2015 declaring a “national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela.”
Obama renewed that decree March 3, 2016, claiming that alleged conditions that first prompted the order had “not improved.”
When Obama first issued his Executive Order it provoked a storm of controversy inside Venezuela and a backlash throughout Latin America.
Leaders from throughout the region condemned the decree, including a statement from the United Nations of South America (UNASUR) rejecting Obama's order as an act of interference.
All 33 members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) expressed their opposition to the U.S. government’s move and called for it to be reversed.
Inside Venezuela, millions signed a petition asserting that the country was not a threat and called for the decree to be repealed.
The backlash was so great that Obama was eventually forced to concede that Venezuela “does not pose a threat” to the United States.
U.S. President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order March 9 declaring a “national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela.” READ MORE
Dangerous Diplomacy: US Praises Mexico and Honduras, Targets Venezuela
By Heather Gies and Cyril Mychalejko
U.S. policy toward Mexico and Honduras highlights the hypocritical and manipulative nature of President Obama’s aggressive statements and sanctions against Venezuela. READ MORE
Racist policing, widespread poverty, climate disaster, gun crime and arming foreign terrorists; US citizens face a host of threats in their daily lives, none of which are Venezuela. Read more...Five Bigger Threats to US Citizens than Venezuela
The United States government has a long history of declaring certain countries to be a “national security threat.”
Once a U.S. president has declared a country to represent a national security threat, under the provisions of the IEEPA, the president is authorized to block transactions and freeze assets of any government entity or government official of that country.
By Isobel Finbow
The U.S. preoccupation with human rights in Venezuela becomes perplexing when one considers that many of the chief recipients of U.S. aid — a combination of military and economic assistance or support — employ highly-questionable practices to prop up their regimes.
