U.S. Blockade Depriving Needy of Medical Care Even Outside Venezuela Says Human Rights Organisation

Hands Off Venezuela protest, 28 January 2019, London | Socialist Appeal

U.S. sanctions against Venezuelan banks and businesses are causing those in dire need of medical attention to be unable to obtain treatment a new report from the Latin American Foundation of Human Rights (Fundalatin) says. The NGO says that vital surgery including the likes of bone marrow transplants are impossible under the blockade.

While sanctions have already hit state-funded health services inside Venezuela, the latest round of sanctions has targeted the likes of oil and gas companies Petroleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) and the Citgo, causing Venezuelan citizens to have their funds frozen and leaving them without a way to pay while abroad.

Maria Eugenia Russian, President of the Latin American Foundation of Human Rights, stated that 15 patients were in a critical condition, most of them children, four children who were part of a 26-member oncology group in Argentina having already died through being unable to access funding contributed by Pdvsa.

“Four patients are clinically stable, and 15 patients in critical health, mostly children and adolescents who received aid through the subsidiary Citgo”
Maria Eugenia Russian, President of the Latin American Foundation of Human Rights

Speaking at a rally in Caracas, President Nicolás Maduro says that Venezuela has the money to assist those in need but is unable to do so through U.S. sanctions placed on the country, saying “we cannot pay bills anywhere” through the implementation of the illegal sanctions.

Fundalatin has appealed to the U.S. government to end the sanctions against Venezuela and end the victimisation of children, the sick and the impoverished, calling on the Trump regime to allow patients access to vital cancer treatments and surgery in order to save their lives.

The NGO plans to reach out to the likes of the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund and the High Commission for Human Rights of the United Nations (UN) in order to apply pressure to the U.S. to intercede on the behalf of those afflicted by the United States’ actions.

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