Source: RT en Español
What it’s about: The video is about United States and European Union sanctions on Venezuelan officials. In the video, reporter Érika Ortega Sanoja reports on how these sanctions are not just harming the Venezuelan officials targeted, but are also harming the Venezuelan public and the economy. The video includes pro-Maduro economists who agree that these sanctions were made in an effort to destroy the “Bolivarian revolution.” Julio Cesar, a liver transplant survivor, also speaks about how sanctions against Venezuela have hurt high-risk patients due to a shortage of medicine, pointing to the fact “the government cannot buy medicine” under sanctions.
What’s misleading about it: The reporter, Érika Ortega Sanoja, takes the side of the Venezuelan government in blaming the shortages of medicine and other essentials on sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the EU. Sanoja does not address the mismanagement of government funds and the oil industry or the skyrocketing inflation, all of which have led the country into an economic crisis which in turn has led to a shortage of food, medicine and other essentials.
Towards the end of the video Sanoja says “the U.S. and EU claim that sanctions only affect some government officials, but what they don’t say is that many of those sanctioned are key figures who wire payments for the government and who bring to Venezuela what private citizens avoid bringing for fear of persecution.” This is not true. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, sanctions on individual members of the Venezuelan government do not mean sanctions on the actual government. The government of Venezuela can still make any purchases it needs, just not through the individual. In fact, Sanoja fails to mention that President Nicolás Maduro has refused to accept humanitarian aid, blocking shipments of medicine and first aid supplies.