Content Warnings: Extreme Poverty, Hunger, War, Death

We negate. The United States should not end its economic sanctions against Venezuela.

Contention One Is Saving The Venezuelan Economy

Specia ‘19 writes that the poor performance of Venezuela's economy in recent years is

attributable to the government’s mismanagement of the economy. The New York Times writes

in 2019 that this poor management has caused Venezuela’s economy to shrink by 62 percent.

Voting negative is the only way to solve the root of Venezuela’s economic troubles

Subpoint A Is Privatization

Rapier of Forbes finds that since Venezuela nationalized the oil industry in the 70s, oil

production has never returned to those levels. Even worse, Specia ‘19 finds Venezuela’s

government oil industry has always been highly mismanaged. Forbes explains that because

Former President Chavez replaced almost 20,000 oil employees with his unqualified allies,

production declined by 50% in just 15 years. This system was great for corrupt leaders; Reuters

finds that Venezuelan leaders embezzled $300 billion from their citizens. The US is giving the

power back to the people. Goodman of AP News reports that the US has placed economic

sanctions on corrupt Venezuelan individuals, preventing them from trading with the US or our

allies. Ramsey ‘19 reports that these sanctions are incredibly effective because they are
reversible, when a corrupt individual complies with the US, we can end sanctions on them. Even

better, McBride ‘19 finds that sanctions don’t target private companies. Krauss ‘20 finds that

the result is that the oil sector is moving away from the government as companies like Chevron

have started investing.

The Impact Is Preserving The Oil Market

Martín of Panam Post explains that with continued sanctions, complete privatization of

Venezuela’s oil industry is inevitable. Reuters finds that privatization will be essential for ending

Venezuela’s economic crisis because the government cannot mismanage an industry they don’t

control. The Borgen Project finds the crisis has thrown 90% of Venezuelans, 28 million people,

into poverty.

Subpoint B Is Ending Price Manipulation

Niño 16 reports that the other underlying cause of the Venezuelan economic crisis has been the

price and currency controls enabled by Hugo Chavez. Newsweek reports that Venezuela has

thrown itself into a shortage crisis by fixing prices on key goods. The IFT reports that prices that

are set by the government are often set far below the production cost of that item. This leads

to some people hoarding the artificially cheap goods, causing shortages. Martino reports that a

primary cause of Venezuelan hyperinflation has been Maduro’s currency control programs.

Thankfully, The Economist reports that because of the international pressure brought on by

sanctions, Maduro has eliminated nearly all of Chavez’s economic plans including price controls

and currency control programs. Trading Economics terminalizes that the inflation rate has

shrunk 99% in the past year.

The Impact Is Food Accessibility

Cohen ‘19 finds that the reduction in inflation has resulted in food prices going down naturally

by up to 70%. Di Martino ‘19 adds that government intervention in the economy has caused

food production to fall by 75% despite the population increasing. Reuters and the Guardian

found that food accessibility has improved by 70% since the introduction of sanctions

Contention 2 is Strengthening The Colombian Alliance

Despite efforts to create peace, Casey of the New York Times reports that Colombia is on the

brink of a war between the country’s military and the rebel group FARC. Levi of The Nation

highlights that Colombian President Duque has challenged key parts of a peace deal between

Colombia and FARC. The Crisis Group explains that Venezuelan President Maduro has worked

with the FARC to strengthen it on the Colombian-Venezuelan border, which is why Wyss of the

Miami Herald finds that Colombia views Venezuela as an existential threat. France 24 explains

that the relationship between the US and Colombia is predicated on sanctions against

Venezuela. The US ending their sanctions on Venezuela would be a betrayal of Colombia.

Unfortunately, Isacson ‘19 finds that a strong US-Colombia relationship is the only way to

prevent a resurgence of FARC, leading to war. Angelo of Foreign Affairs explains that the US

would be in a good place to negotiate peace between the two groups if their relationship with

Colombia is strong. In the past, the National Review reports that the US has been critical for

preserving peace in trying times. Without Colombia allowing the US to mediate, FARC and

Colombia will fall back into war.

The Impact Is Lives

In the last FARC conflict, Natan ‘19 reported that over 260 thousand people were killed and

Colombia Reports found that 82% of those were innocent civilians. Luckily, Isacson ‘19 finds

that in the past, US negotiated peace deals have reduced violence in Colombia by 93 percent.

Thus, We Negate