Amisha’s Reading List — Key Pro & Con Articles
Sanctions that kill Venezuelans (2019). This article describes the various ways sanctions kill Venezuela’s economy and answers the argument that sanctions targeted at officials don’t cause humanitarian problems.
The impact of the 2017 sanctions on Venezuela (2019). This study attacks the methodology for the claim that 40,000 have died from sanctions.
Background
History and Status Quo US Policy (Wikipedia)
Timeline of US sanctions (2019)
Understanding US sanctions on Venezuela (April 2019). This article doesn’t have any debate evidence but it details the increasing sanctions on Venezuela.
Overview of US Sanctions (Congressional Research Service, October 2019). This provides a general overview of US sanctions and makes the claim that sanctions have not undermined Maduro.
US slaps sanctions on 5 Venezuelan officials (November 2019). This article just says the US added sanctions to these individuals.
US issues some exemptions, targets more officials (November 2019). This article explains that certain US companies do not want to work in/with Venezuela due to the sanctions.
Venezuela Related Sanctions (Department of Treasury, 2019). This probably isn’t helpful for debate purposes, but it has a detailed list of sanctions if you are interesdted.
General
US vows to reinforce sanctions (November 2019). This article identifies some of the general pros and cons of the sanctions.
Pro – General
What US sanctions have wrought (2019). This article argues that sanctions increase political conflict within Venezuela and do not create pressure for change.
The Wrong Message: US sanctions on Venezuela (2014). This article argues that sanctions don’t trigger reform in Venezuela and actually undermine reform.
Why more sanctions won’t help Venezuela (2018). This article argues that sanctions hurt the people and undermine the opposition to Maduro.
China
Service Firms mull Yuan payment (2019). This article explains that Venezuela is trying to pay suppliers in Yuan but also that China is trying to reduce economic ties with Venezuela because of international sanctions.
Pro – Humanitarian
Economic sanctions as collective punishment (April 2019).
This paper looks at some of the most important impacts of the economic sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the US government since August of 2017. It finds that most of the impact of these sanctions has not been on the government but on the civilian population.
The sanctions reduced the public’s caloric intake, increased disease and mortality (for both adults and infants), and displaced millions of Venezuelans who fled the country as a result of the worsening economic depression and hyperinflation. They exacerbated Venezuela’s economic crisis and made it nearly impossible to stabilize the economy, contributing further to excess deaths. All of these impacts disproportionately harmed the poorest and most vulnerable Venezuelans.
Even more severe and destructive than the broad economic sanctions of August 2017 were the sanctions imposed by executive order on January 28, 2019 and subsequent executive orders this year; and the recognition of a parallel government, which as shown below, created a whole new set of financial and trade sanctions that are even more constricting than the executive orders themselves. We find that the sanctions have inflicted, and increasingly inflict, very serious harm to human life and health, including an estimated more than 40,000 deaths from 2017–2018; and that these sanctions would fit the definition of collective punishment of the civilian population as described in both the Geneva and Hague international conventions, to which the US is a signatory. They are also illegal under international law and treaties which the US has signed, and would appear to violate US law as well.
US sanctions responsible for tends of thousands of deaths (2019). As many as 40,000 people may have died in Venezuela as a result of US sanctions that made it harder for ordinary citizens to access food, medicine and medical equipment, a new report has claimed. The report, published by the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) a progressive, Washington DC-based think tank, says those deaths took place following the imposition of sanctions in the summer of 2017. It said the situation had probably worsened since the imposition earlier this year, of tougher sanctions targetting Venezuela’s vital oil industry, as part of the Trump administration’s effort to oust president Nicolas Maduro.
New sanctions risk aggravating suffering (2019). This/brief article explains how the new sanctions undermine the trade in humanitarian goods, even if those goods are exempt.
Venezuelan crisis worsening (2019). This article argues sanctions kill thousands of kids.
US sanctions may worsen Venezuelan suffering (2019) This is a good Pro article for scope — it says the sanctions have a negative impact on millions.
Pro — Medicine
Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis (2019). This long report (79 pages) has extensive details about the current humanitarian situation in Venezuela. It has many statistics that will be especially useful to PF debaters.
The Human Cost of US sanctions on Venezuela (2019). This article argues the sanctions undermine access to critical medicines.
Pro – Economy
Trump’s sanctions make economic recovery in Venezuela nearly impossible (2017). This article argues sanctions make it impossible for Venezuela to export and economically recover.
Sanctions that kill Venezuelans (2019). This article describes the various ways sanctions kill Venezuela’s economy and answers the argument that sanctions targeted at officials don’t cause humanitarian problems.
Sanctions and the Venezuelan economy: What the data say (June 2019). This article says sanctions undermine the economy and that the impact of the sanctions is greater than other factors.
Con – Humanitarian
US sanctions are not killing Venezuela, Mauduro is (2019). The title is self-explanatory. It adds the argument that economic decline undermines Maduro.
Six Takeaways from Venezuela’s dysutopia. (2019). This article argues Maduro is responsible for Venezuela’s economic collapse and that pressure is necessary to prevent a descent into greater tyranny tyranny and poverty
The impact of the 2017 sanctions on Venezuela (2019). This study attacks the methodology for the claim that 40,000 have died from sanctions.
Con — International Support
US sanctions will only worsen Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis (2019). This article explains that there is substantial international support for the sanctions.
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