To Jose de Paz – what most analyses on the Venezuelan invasion tend to leave out (including the left) – is the conditions created by the U S after Chavez took power with sanctions and trade blockades that deeply affected the economy of Venezuela.

Over and over again, since 2001, the U S government, alongside oil companies, have done everything to stop the nationalization of oil in Venezuela- but to advance economic strangulation strategies to somehow bring back the US-owned oil companies to power. There is little mention about how nationalization by Chavez resulted in revenues that were used for social programs for health, education, and better quality of life. It was not just that oil prices dropped dramatically in 2014 affecting the economy internally of Venezuela – but it was also restrictions on Venezuela for access to international credit markets – the use of currency attacks, misinformation, diplomatic isolation, blockades, and economic sanctions (such as those in August 2017 and 2018) designed to halt any economic progress of a nation who was seeking economic independence. It has been part of an ongoing neoliberal strategy to control any nation in the global south that tries to develop its own currency, nationalize its industries to keep the wealth of its resources for the use of its internal needs, and that seeks to free itself from the historical domination of international corporations and capital interests. With shortages caused by these factors, the total blame is placed on internal failures- covering up the role that sanctions and other blockades have played – and are playing out now in holding back any kind of economic development that can break the chains of historical domination by these outside interests.