Senate, Obama extend sanctions on Venezuela after prodding by Rubio
Senate, Obama extend sanctions on Venezuela after prodding by Rubio
Even though the success of the sanctions is not guarantee, “the United States has a national interest Venezuela doesn’t spiral out of control,” highlights AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth.
After months on the presidential campaign trail, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has returned to his Senate agenda, making a recent deal with the White House that included the extension of sanctions on Venezuela and the confirmation of an ambassador to Mexico whose nomination he had delayed….
… In return, Rubio released his more than six month hold on the nomination of Roberta Jacobson as the next ambassador to Mexico. She was quickly confirmed by the Senate, even though, as head of the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Jacobson had irritated Rubio with her role in normalizing relations with Cuba.
...“Success is not guaranteed,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas.
Once in charge of policy at the White House Office of the Special Envoy for the Americas, Farnsworth said the United States wants to pressure Venezuela toward democratic changes without doing harm to an economy that is in danger of collapse.
“Nobody wants to hasten the death of that economy,” he said….
