What is happening to Venezuela is not an accident, not mismanagement, not ideology gone wrong and certainly not humanitarian concern. It is a textbook operation. A deliberate, multi decade project of economic strangulation designed to collapse a sovereign state from the inside while blaming the victim for the damage
inflicted upon it.
Venezuela sits on the largest proven oil reserves on earth. Not in theory. Not politically. In hard geological fact. That single reality places it permanently in the crosshairs of American power. Every other argument is decoration.
The United States does not tolerate independent control over strategic resources, especially when that control is exercised by governments that refuse incorporation into its financial and security architecture. Venezuela made the unforgivable choice to nationalise its oil, prioritise domestic sovereignty and align itself outside the US dominated economic order. From that moment, its fate was sealed.
Economic strangulation is the preferred modern weapon. It kills silently. It avoids the optics of invasion. It creates suffering while preserving plausible deniability. Sanctions are imposed not to change behaviour but to collapse systems. They are designed to cripple currencies, destroy imports, break healthcare supply chains and generate internal desperation. When people begin to starve, when hospitals lack medicine, the narrative machine activates. The suffering is blamed on socialism, corruption, incompetence and dictatorship. The architect of the disaster presents itself as rescuer.
This method has been refined across administrations, parties and decades. There is no meaningful difference between Republican and Democrat on this question. The faces change. The strategy remains.
Under Reagan, Latin America was treated as a laboratory for coercion. Sanctions, proxy wars and regime manipulation became standard operating procedure. The doctrine was clear. Governments that did not align would be destabilised until they fell.
George H W Bush perfected the model. Panama was the rehearsal. Manuel Noriega had been a US asset for years. His crimes were tolerated until he stopped being useful. Once he became inconvenient, the same activities long ignored were suddenly declared intolerable. Indictment preceded invasion. Sanctions softened the target. Media demonisation prepared the public. Then came Operation Just Cause. Thousands of civilians died. International law was discarded. Congress was bypassed. The precedent was set. The president could invade a sovereign nation, arrest its leader and call it justice.
The legal architecture for this arrogance was built deliberately. The assertion that the United States executive could override international law at will was not accidental. It was foundational. From that moment, no leader of a targeted state was safe. Sovereignty became conditional. Recognition became a weapon.
Bill Clinton expanded sanctions warfare. Iraq was destroyed not by invasion initially but by embargo. Half a million children died under sanctions. The response was chilling. It was worth it. That logic never left Washington.
George W Bush escalated from strangulation to outright demolition. Afghanistan. Iraq. Libya later followed the same arc. Demonisation. Sanctions. Military action. Resource capture. Institutional collapse.
Barack Obama changed the language, not the policy. Venezuela was formally declared a national security threat. Sanctions deepened. Financial isolation intensified. The noose tightened quietly while rhetoric softened.
Donald Trump removed the mask. Oil sanctions were weaponised openly. The Venezuelan economy was cut off from global markets. Assets were seized. Billions were frozen. A parallel government was recognised without elections, without control of territory, without legitimacy. Juan Guaido was manufactured overnight as president by foreign declaration. The message was unmistakable. Sovereignty now belonged to Washington.
The narco terrorism narrative was dusted off because it always works. It worked with Noriega. It worked with Iraq. It worked with Libya. It transforms political conflict into criminal pursuit. It converts war into policing. It reframes regime change as law enforcement.
The numbers expose the fraud. The majority of cocaine entering the United States does not pass through Venezuela. It never has. The primary routes are elsewhere. If drugs were the concern, there are far larger transit states. They are untouched because they are compliant.
Sanctions did not reduce corruption. They increased suffering. They did not weaken criminal networks. They strengthened black markets. They did not protect civilians. They killed them. Independent studies estimate tens of thousands of deaths directly attributable to sanctions through medical shortages and economic collapse. That is not collateral damage. That is policy.
The United States then compounds the violence by denying responsibility for the outcome it engineered. It sanctions oil exports then blames the government for lack of revenue. It blocks medical imports then laments failing hospitals. It freezes assets then condemns poverty. It creates the crisis then weaponises it.
Alongside economic strangulation comes narrative war. Language is controlled. Media repetition replaces evidence. Governments resisting incorporation are never sovereign. They are regimes. Their leaders are never elected. They are dictators. Their supporters are never citizens. They are mobs. Their resistance is never defence. It is aggression.
This is how incorporation is enforced. Not through development. Not through partnership. But through submission.
Militarisation follows economic collapse. The Western Hemisphere is quietly being designated as a unified military theatre under American command. The doctrine is hemispheric dominance. From the Arctic to Patagonia. From the Caribbean to the Andes. This is not defence. It is empire maintenance.
Venezuela understands this reality. That is why its military remains loyal. That is why civilian militias exist. That is why anti imperialism is not rhetoric but survival strategy. History has taught the lesson too clearly.
What is unfolding is not unique to Venezuela. It is a warning. Any state that attempts to reclaim control over resources, assert economic independence or align outside the Western financial system becomes a candidate. The playbook is reusable. The justification is flexible. The outcome is always the same.
This is not about democracy. It never was. It is about control. About oil. About obedience.
Economic strangulation is war by other means. It is siege warfare in a suit. It starves nations while claiming virtue. It collapses societies while preaching order. It destroys governments while calling itself law.
Venezuela is not failing. It is being strangled.
And the world is watching the execution while being told it is rescue.
By Hon. Chima Nnadi-Oforgu
Duruebube Uzii na Abosi
OBLONG MEDIA UNLIMITED 
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