Britain and Venezuela: Rejecting Measures That Harm Civilians

"History is unambiguous. Governments under siege do not surrender; they hunker down. Elites insulate themselves. Security services tighten control. Scarcity becomes a political tool. The population suffers - and the regime survives. Venezuela fits this pattern exactly. The assumption that more pressure will somehow force capitulation misunderstands both the Venezuelan state and the dynamics of external coercion. Sanctions do not weaken such governments; they entrench them, providing a permanent external enemy and a ready-made explanation for failure."

"Sir Keir Starmer has been explicit that his foreign policy rests on human rights, international law, and the defence of a "rules-based order." Those principles cannot be applied selectively. They lose credibility if they are invoked forcefully in Ukraine but quietly set aside when economic warfare targets a politically inconvenient government elsewhere. A blockade - whether formal or informal, maritime or financial - is not a technical policy instrument."

Economic strangulation, de facto blockades, and sanctions imposed on Venezuela amount to siege warfare aimed at breaking civilians rather than defeating armies. Siege tactics deliberately inflict suffering and constitute collective punishment that fails as diplomacy. Historical experience shows besieged governments do not capitulate; elites insulate themselves, security forces tighten control, scarcity becomes a political weapon, and regimes persist. Sanctions entrench ruling powers by creating external enemies and excuses for failure. Selective application of human-rights principles undermines credibility. Under international law, blockades are acts of war, and predictable deprivation of food, medicine, energy, and livelihoods violates basic humanitarian norms.

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