{
	"type": "rich",
	"version": "1.0",
	"provider_name": "Action Network",
	"provider_url": "https://actionnetwork.org",
	
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	"author_name": "RootsAction",
	"author_url": "https://actionnetwork.org/groups/rootsactionorg",
	"title": "Tell Congress to Cease Hostility Toward Venezuela",
	"thumbnail_url": "https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/share_options/facebook_images/000/433/332/original/Venezuela2.jpg",
	"description": "It&#x27;s bad enough that the U.S. government has repeatedly supported coup-attempts in Venezuela, and imposed hurtful economic sanctions on the Venezuelan people. It is now seeking to add to those sanctions. This December marks 200 years since the speech that created the Monroe Doctrine. Enough is enough. At long last it is time for friendship and cooperation rather than imperialism from the United States in the Americas. Please click &quot;START WRITING&quot; to email your Senators and Representatives. Background Information: The U.S. has supported coup attempts in Venezuela in 2002, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Since 2019, the U.S. government and obedient media outlets have pretended that the U.S.-educated and U.S.-directed Juan Guaidó is president of Venezuela, despite his never having been elected and never even having siezed power. The Monroe Doctrine is not dead. A February 12, 2019, article in The Economist used the Monroe Doctrine to explain why the government of Venezuela would object to being overthrown. A March 4, 2019, article in The Washington Post reported on the U.S. National Security Advisor explaining that the U.S. can overthrow the government of Venezuela for being dictatorial, even while the U.S. supports dictatorial governments around the world, because Venezuela falls under the Monroe Doctrine. A November 29, 2022, Fox Business article cited the Monroe Doctrine as justification for opposing a government of Venezuela that the U.S. government has long sought to overthrow. The U.S. government refers to its ongoing efforts to overthrow the government of Venezuela as &quot;resolving the Venezuelan crisis&quot; and &quot;tracking human rights.&quot; It describes its efforts as supporting &quot;democracy&quot; and opposing &quot;dictatorship.&quot; But the language doesn&#x27;t make the actions moral or legal. Sanctions are immoral. U.S. economic sanctions technically exempt humanitarian items -- but banks, insurance companies, and other corporations are afraid that if they make loans, provide insurance for shipments or send goods the U.S. government will accuse them of violating the sanctions, levy hefty fines and place them on a banned business list. As a result of broad U.S. economic sanctions countries such as Venezuela, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Sudan, and Zimbabwe struggle without adequate food, electricity, medicine, medical supplies, masks and respirators. Those who suffer most under sanctions include pregnant women, children, and the chronically ill. Sanctions are illegal. Sanctions authorized by the United Nations and not punishing a whole population may be legal. Sanctions imposed by a single government or group of governments, or engaging in collective punishment, or coercing other governments to participate in a form of blockade are not legal. Such sanctions violate national sovereignty and bans on collective punishment in the Geneva Conventions as well as the UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and in some cases the Genocide Convention. Sanctions are ineffective on their own terms. David Cortright writes: “Policy makers seem to have forgotten the reasons for shifting to targeted sanctions. The purpose is not only to avoid unintended humanitarian consequences but to minimize the risk of a rally-round-the-flag effect. When sanctions harm the innocent they lose legitimacy and political support. Governments under blanket sanctions can blame their country’s economic and social miseries on external enemies, diverting attention from their own mismanagement. They can isolate domestic opponents by accusing them of helping foreign enemies. . . . The sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council are more selective and targeted. They freeze the assets and ban the travel of approximately 100 Iranian officials and entities responsible for the country’s nuclear program. They do not hurt ordinary people. . . . Sanctions that target potential bomb makers are smart. Those that harm innocent civilians are counterproductive and should be abandoned.” Bills Currently Under Consideration in Congress: H.R.4086 / S.1931 - AFFECT Human Rights in Venezuela Act. This bill is designed to seek negative information on the Venezuelan government. That information might be true or not, but it is notably not sought on the much-worse governments of loyal U.S. weapons customers, and it is not used to promote self-governance -- rather, foreign governance. S.995 - Venezuelan Democracy Act. This bill would sanction Venezuela until the government is overthrown.",
	"url": "https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-to-cease-hostility-toward-venezuela"
}