ASSESSMENTS

U.S. Policy on Venezuela Formally Shifting Toward Regime Change

Oct 4, 2018 | 10:30 GMT

A controlled flame burns behind a storage tank at an oil refinery complex in Venezuela.

A controlled flame burns behind a storage tank at an oil complex in Paraguana, Venezuela. The South American country exports about 575,000 barrels of crude oil per day to U.S. Gulf Coast refiners.

(KIMBERLY WHITE/Getty Images)

While the U.S. government is moving toward a policy of regime change in Venezuela, its actions may simply lead to a prolonged standoff. In the U.S. Senate, lawmakers are working on a bill that largely codifies much of what is already existing policy, but the measure could also lead to a loss of political and economic power for Venezuela's rulers, as well as prosecutions for crimes against humanity. While the bill's approval would be significant, its stipulations make a negotiated solution to Venezuela's political stalemate highly unlikely. The current government won't agree to talks under the bill's conditions and will instead cling ever more fiercely to power....