Our Senior Energy Policy analyst Joe McMonigle shares some interesting insight on BNN Bloomberg about the new U.S. sanctions aiming to dry up Venezuela's cash flow.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW

McMonigle: US Policy Targeting Venezuela ATM Machine - zjoe

 A couple interesting insights from the interview

  • U.S. policy is really centered around cutting off the Venezuelan cash machine, which because of the way debt and loans to the Venezuelan government are structured, the U.S. exports are the ATM machine for Maduro. The Trump administration wants to cut off the cash to Maduro to separate him from the military. That's the goal. Secondary goal is to steer some funds to the Guaido government. That's a little more complicated, but becomes easier if it forces Maduro's exit.
  • I've been saying for some time you can't rule out military intervention, or military action of some kind. Trump has talked about it openly as a legitimate option dating back to last year. He's been talked out of that by Mattis and others. But they're all gone. [National Security Adviser] John Bolton and [US Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo are in charge. 5,000 troops is not a huge level. So that may be focused around a rescue attempt, positioning for that, if it happens. Or humanitarian aid distribution. But don't discount that it's also for sending a message to Maduro. And, more importantly, to the Venezuelan military.