For more than 15 years, the United States has been imposing a wide variety of economic sanctions against Venezuela, claiming the South American country has aided in drug trafficking, sponsored terrorism, and committed human rights abuses. In 2017, then-US President Donald Trump ramped up these sanctions in an aim to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, adding that a “possible military option” was on the table. But US efforts to dismantle Venezuela’s elected government fell short, and civilians have borne the ill-effects of US sanctions.

According to a report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, sanctions led to more than 40,000 deaths in 2017-2018. They’ve also increased diseases and worsened mortality, forced millions of people to leave the country, and are a major factor in an economic collapse that has left people scrambling to find food and medicine.

In this episode of The Stream we’ll look at the impact of sanctions on Venezuelans, and ask whether they are an effective foreign policy tool or simply collective punishment.

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