Siddharth and I negate Resolved: The United States should end its economic sanctions against

Venezuela.

C1: Global Hegemonies

O'Connor in 2019 asserts that prior to US sanctions, China and Russia served as two of
Venezuela’s closest military and economic partners, providing Maduro’s government with
funding and support it needed to stay afloat

However, Armas explains that due to recent sanctions, Chinese interests, specifically the China
National Petroleum Corp, have pulled out of the country, fearing an economic retaliation from
the US

Additionally, Faiola 2020 reveals that Russian trading company Rosneft has put an end to
operations in Venezuela, sending a stinging blow to Maduro’s regime

As a direct result of US sanctions, totalitarian international interests are pulling out of

Venezuela, withdrawing their influence and support in the region. This leads to Maduro losing
allies and overseas support, and to Russia and China losing access to a portion of their global
hegemonies

The impact is twofold.

First, toppling Maduro

In the Status Quo, Maduro is in desperate need of these foreign supporters, which is best
exemplified by an incident in April of 2019, where The Atlantic Council finds Maduro would
have abdicated his power, had Russian backers not convinced himself to stay

Because of this, it stands to reason that ending Russian and Chinese influence in Venezuela will
topple Maduro’s regime, which is a tremendous positive seeing as Smith 2019 reports that in
2018 and early 2019 alone, his government was responsible for over 16,000 extra-judicial
killings.

Ending Maduro’s reign will ensure countless lives will be saved from future injustice

Second, stopping atrocities

 Reuters asserts that across the world, Rosneft, and the millions of dollars it makes from
Venezuelan trading, play a crucial role in Russia’s foreign influence, allowing it to influence
policy, and force other countries to turn a blind eye to its human rights abuses, such as the
annexation of Crimea

Ending its influence by cutting off connections to Venezuela is crucial in putting an end to this.

C2: Limiting the reach of Terrorism

Hezbollah is a powerful terrorist group that has roots in the Middle East has been expanding in
Venezuela.

Long 2020 explains that Maduro has a close relationship with Hezbollah and other violent
groups, helping fund their killings and terrorism with billions of dollars worth of support, as well
as providing them with passports to spread their armed presence to Latin America

Analysts from VOA news of 2019 argue that recent U.S. sanctions against several key
Hezbollah figures are harming the group's financial operations in Venezuela and elsewhere in
Latin America, leaving its future uncertain

The sole Impact is saving lives

straits times confirms that Hezbollah’s involvement in Venezuela and in the Middle East has
lead to 360,000 deaths. Markusen from the CSIS also states that Hezbollah has stockpiled a
large amount of chemical weapons and missiles. Chemical warfare is extremely destructive, and
Mcarthy quantifies that these Hezbollah weapons could cause about 560,000 deaths in an
armed conflict

And so, Preventing Hezbollah from killing civilians and destabilizing Venezuela is key.

Thankfully, Kajjo 19 finds that recent US sanctions solve for this issue by financially crippling the
terrorist organization, saving lives in the process.

In order to defeat Maduro, fight totalitarian influence, and save lives,

We Strongly Negate