Over the past two years, Washington has imposed increasingly punitive economic sanctions on Venezuela. The sanctions were designed to choke off revenues to the regime of Nicolás Maduro. The reasoning was that Mr. Maduro would quickly back down, or the military would force him out before the sanctions could begin to have an effect. Two years in, Mr. Maduro retains his grip on power, and his regime has become even more repressive and ruthless. Venezuela was already in a deep humanitarian crisis, following years of mismanagement and corruption under Mr. Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

Source: International New York Times July 10, 2019 22:52 UTC