Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

US sanctions on Russia over Ukraine also target Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba
Benjamin Norton
02 Mar 2022
US sanctions on Russia over Ukraine also target Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega at the ALBA summit in La Habana in December 2021 (Photo credit: Cuba's presidential office)

The U.S. and Western powers talk about a "Troika of Tyranny" in Latin America because the nations in that region recognize the dangers of the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination. But any tyranny taking place is forced upon them by the U.S. and its NATO allies.

This article was originally published in Multipolarista.

President Joe Biden’s top Latin America advisor has admitted that US sanctions against Russia over Ukraine intentionally seek to hurt Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba as well.

The United States imposed a series of harsh sanctions on Russia following Moscow’s recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region on February 21, and its subsequent military intervention in Ukraine on February 24.

Juan S. González, Biden’s special assistant for Latin America and the US National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere, made it clear that these coercive measures against Russia are also aimed at damaging the economies of Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba have socialist governments that Washington has long tried to overthrow. All three currently suffer under unilateral US sanctions, which are illegal according to international law.

Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton, an architect of the Iraq War, referred to these three Latin American nations as the so-called “Troika of Tyranny.”

Biden’s advisor González did an exclusive interview with Voz de América, the Spanish-language arm of the US government’s propaganda outlet Voice of America, on February 25.

Voz de América published his comments in a report titled “US sanctions on Russia will impact Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, White House estimates.”

“The sanctions against Russia are so robust that they will have an impact on those governments that have economic affiliations with Russia, and that is by design,” González explained.

“So Venezuela is going to start feeling that pressure. Nicaragua is going to feel that pressure, along with Cuba,” he added.

Biden’s Latin America advisor noted that Washington has imposed sanctions on 13 top financial institutions in Russia, including some of the largest in the country. He proudly said that these coercive measures will, “by design,” harm other countries that do a lot of trade with the Eurasian power.

González also used his interview with the US-funded Voz de América to reiterate Washington’s call for regime change against these three socialist governments in Latin America.

His comments were reported by the independent Bolivia-based news website Kawsachun News.

Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba stand with Russia against US and NATO

Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba have stood with Russia against NATO expansion and Western military encirclement.

President Nicolás Maduro said that Venezuela “laments the mockery and breaking of the Minsk agreements by NATO, promoted by the United States of America.”

Maduro stressed that Washington and NATO bear responsibility for the conflict, and “have generated strong threats against the Russian Federation.”
 

Cuba blamed Washington for the crisis as well. Its Foreign Ministry stated, “The U.S. determination to continue NATO’s progressive expansion towards the Russian Federation borders has brought about a scenario with implications of unpredictable scope, which could have been avoided.”

Denouncing Western governments for sending weapons to Ukraine, Cuba declared, “History will hold the United States accountable for the consequences of an increasingly offensive military doctrine outside NATO’s borders, which threatens international peace, security and stability.”

Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega condemned Washington for sponsoring a 2014  coup in Ukraine, and joined Russia in recognizing the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

The chairman of Russia’s State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, traveled to Nicaragua to meet with top officials from the Sandinista government, and thanked them for their support against NATO expansion and US threats.

Multipolarista is an independent news outlet documenting the transition to a multipolar world. Multipolarista is edited by journalist Benjamin Norton.

Sanctions
Venezuela
Cuba
Nicaragua
Russia

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Isaac Saney
Who Is the Failed State? Cuba, Revolutionary Ethics, and the Moral Bankruptcy of Western Capitalism
30 July 2025
The Cuban revolution endures despite more than 60 years of U.S. attacks.
Roger D. Harris , John Perry
Trump’s Latin American Policies Go South
30 July 2025
Trump's Latin America playbook reads from the old colonial handbook—coups for Venezuela, sanctions for Cuba, and open arms for far-right leader
Becca Renk
46 Years On, Nicaragua’s Youth Still Lead the Revolution
23 July 2025
Celebrating 46 years of revolution, Nicaragua demonstrates that it is possible to respect its heroes and also venerate its youth.
Jill Clark-Gollub
Daniel Ortega is No Bukele
11 June 2025
Ortega and Bukele are polar opposites: one invests in dignity and democracy, the other in mass incarceration and imperial alliances.
Roger D. Harris
Ballots and Bias: How the Press Framed Venezuela’s Regional and Legislative Elections
11 June 2025
Roger D.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Ukraine Terrorism and the Question of U.S. Involvement
04 June 2025
The U.S has been involved in every aspect of Ukraine’s military activity against Russia.
Internationalist 360
Marco Rubio Travels to Guyana to Entrench U.S. Colonial Rule
02 April 2025
U.S.
Black Alliance For Peace
The Eurocentric U.S. “Left” Carries Water for Neoliberal Right, Again: Response to the Ukraine Solidarity Network
05 March 2025
It comes as no surprise that elements among the left continue to do the bidding of Western imperialist forces.
Nato Koury
Guantánamo Bay’s forgotten history of detaining Haitian migrants
19 February 2025
The threats by the Trump administration to detain migrants in Guantanamo Bay will not be the first time the United States has used the fac
Nemanja Lukić
Imperialist Terrorism and Accumulation Through Sanctions: The Case of Serbia
29 January 2025
Since the launch of its military operation in Ukraine, Russia has become one of the most sanctioned countries in the world.

More Stories


  • Abayomi Azikiwe
    Kenyan Police Attack Youth-led Demonstrations Against Brutality
    09 Jul 2025
    At least 16 were killed in protests marking the first anniversary of mass actions against neo-liberal tax hikes and continuing state repression.
  • Said Bouamama Blog
    Settler Colonialism in Light of F. Fanon: Algeria yesterday, Kanaky today... (Part 1)
    09 Jul 2025
    As settler-colonial violence escalates from Kanaky to Palestine, Fanon’s century-old warnings are critical today—capitalism’s genocidal expansion demands revolution.
  • Inae Oh
    What $100 Billion in New ICE Funding Would Look Like
    09 Jul 2025
    The staggering increase is ICE enforcement is difficult to process. These numbers will help.
  • Margaret Kimberley and Dimitri Lascaris
    Dimitri Lascaris , Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Donald Trump's Big, Beautiful Con-Job w/ Margaret Kimberley
    09 Jul 2025
    This past week, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed Donald Trump's signature budget bill, which Trump dubbed "One Big Beautiful Bill Act". Dimitri Lascaris spoke with Margaret…
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 4, 2025
    04 Jul 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss navigating celebrity culture and liberation politics. Also, organizers will convene in Philadelphia to mobilize on behalf of Mumia Abu Jamal. But first, we learn…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us