[TEASER] Venezuela Pt. 3: Sanctions as Economic Warfare w/ Cira Pascual Marquina

Oct 11, 2025

Cira Pascual Marquina, a researcher and popular educator at El Panal commune in Venezuela, discusses the impact of U.S. sanctions on her country. She defines sanctions as a siege, revealing their devastating effects on food and medicine, and highlights the human cost, particularly for vulnerable populations. Cira also compares Venezuela's situation with sanctions imposed on Cuba and Iran, noting their political objectives and historical origins. Her insights into the functioning of communes provide a glimpse into grassroots resistance and community resilience.

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INSIGHT

Sanctions Operate As Siege

Sanctions function as a siege that cuts access to food, medicine, and financial flows.
A Lancet article links sanctions to roughly 600,000 deaths globally per year, hitting children and the elderly hardest.

INSIGHT

Sanctions As Economic Warfare

Sanctions are economic warfare aimed at regime change and punishing sovereignty movements.
They increase inequality, force migration, and often violate international law to pressure governments.

ANECDOTE

Recent Military Buildup And Diplomacy Cuts

Cira describes a recent U.S. military buildup with destroyers near Venezuela and increased regional deployments.
She stresses this escalation accompanies explicit U.S. calls for regime change and cuts diplomatic channels.

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We are publishing this episode a few days early. Solidarity with Venezuela!

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In Part 3 of our ongoing series on Venezuela, Cira Pascual Marquina joins us to discuss sanctions with a focus on the US-imposed coercive economic measures on Venezuela. Cira Pascual Marquina is a researcher and popular educator at El Panal commune in Venezuela. She's the author of the Present as Struggle: Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution with Chris Gilbert and co-host along with Chris of the Marxist educational project Escuela de Cuadros.

Our conversation with Cira opens with an update on the United States' military buildup in the Caribbean and the escalation of threats by the Trump administration against the Venezuelan people and their elected president Nicolás Maduro. We discuss what sanctions are more broadly, how they work, and how they are deployed as a weapon of war against governments that defy US hegemony. We then take a deep dive into the history of sanctions against Venezuela, the impact they've had, how the government and the people of Venezuela have resisted these sanctions, and how we can stand in solidarity with Venezuela during this period of heightened US aggression.

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