Trump’s escalation against Venezuela is about more than oil, it is about regaining control over the ‘natural’ zone of influence of the United States at a moment where its hegemony is slipping, argues VIJAY PRASHAD
Biden needs to change his approach to Venezuela
While the US president is pursuing a more progressive domestic policy agenda in many respects, his position towards Venezuela appears to be alarmingly similar to Trump’s, warns TIM YOUNG
Evidence suggests Lammy’s proposals would come at a high cost: reduced fairness, diminished trust and greater racial inequality in the criminal justice system, argue TARA LAI QUINLAN and KATHARINA KARCHER
From the workhouses of the 1840s to today’s market capitalism, A Christmas Carol remains a sharp critique of charity rationed by class, says KEITH FLETT
The argument for a “significant expansion” of nuclear power will deliver soaring electricity prices that condemn underserved communities to unending hardship and poverty, argues LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
The new plan sets out an uncompromising bid for global dominance, casting even allies as obstacles to be subdued, writes DIANE ABBOTT
As we approach the half-anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, the community gathers to remember loved ones while grappling with mixed emotions surrounding the ongoing deconstruction of the tower and the hopeful plans for a memorial, writes EMMA DENT COAD
DONALD TRUMP’S approach to Venezuela proved to be singularly unsuccessful. As president he ratcheted up sanctions against Venezuela’s elected government in an attempt to bring about “regime change.” Over Trump’s time in office, sanctions against Venezuela were widened and intensified into a blockade of its commercial and financial business dealings.
As the blockade tightened, the impact on the lives of ordinary Venezuelans, particularly the poor, the sick and the elderly, became devastating, with far-reaching effects. The Washington-based Centre for Economic and Policy Research calculated they led to more than 40,000 deaths in 2017-18 alone.
The dire impact of sanctions has attracted the UN’s attention. In January 2019, Idriss Jazairy, the UN’s special rapporteur on coercive measures’ impact on human rights, voiced his major concerns about them: “Coercion, whether military or economic, must never be used to seek a change in government in a sovereign state.”
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The US is desperate to stop Honduras’s process of social and democratic change, writes TIM YOUNG
Two months into Donald Trump’s second run as president, what can we glean about his policies towards Latin America so far, asks TIM YOUNG, ahead of this Saturday’s Socialism or Barbarism day school in London
BEN CHACKO appreciates the largest Adelante! conference yet, and how much there was to learn about decolonisation and defiance across Latin America and beyond