Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the Trump administration is considering sanctions against Spain over its policy toward Venezuela. Sanctions are a good idea. Spain is helping Nicolas Maduro to destroy his country, and that must change.
According to Bloomberg, “The U.S. Treasury Department is considering sanctions against Spain’s central bank and measures against other entities where Venezuelan money is parked … no action is expected before Spain’s November 10 general election.”
Assuming, as is likely, that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez retains power in the upcoming elections, those sanctions should be introduced without delay. Because it’s not simply financial support that Sanchez’s socialist government is providing to Maduro. Spain is also facilitating Maduro’s ability to kill his fellow citizens. Coming from a European Union member which claims to be a servant of human rights, this Spanish policy is outrageous. The U.S. should take a stand here.
Spain has been repeatedly asked by U.S. government officials to end its support for Maduro’s regime. And the humanitarian situation in Venezuela is a catastrophe that continues to get worse. Venezuela is now mired in stratospheric murder rates, epidemic child mortality rates, and non-existent supplies of medicine. Today, Venezuela is a nation that turns its professionals into prostitutes and expels them to Colombia.
And it will only get worse. The United Nations assesses that Venezuela’s refugee population will increase from 4.5 million to 6.5 million by the end of 2020.
If America stands for anything, it must stand against this.
Prime Minister Sanchez either clearly hasn’t gotten the message or hasn’t listened to it. It’s time there were consequences to his already-faltering economy. If Sanchez wants to behave like Communist Cuba, let him share its fate.
Some say the risks of those sanctions outweigh any benefits. They point to the U.S. Navy base at Rota as a rationale for patience with Sanchez. I disagree. While that base is important, Spain and the EU need the U.S. military there more than the military needs to be there.
Spain should be putting its own navy to sea, anyway. And if we needed to, we could establish a naval presence in France, a far better NATO ally. Spanish support for Russian naval operations in the Mediterranean Sea is already utterly at odds with Spain’s NATO membership.
As Maduro fills his fat belly with fine steaks, he has turned the nation with Earth’s largest oil reserve into a vast child cemetery. Short of military force, the first step toward saving these innocents and restoring democracy is to place sanctions against Spain.
