Francisco Rodríguez

In The Collapse of Venezuela, I argue that Venezuela's economic implosion was caused not just by the failure of an economic model but also by the deeper failure of its political system to manage the conflicts inherent to a polarized society. undpress.nd.edu/9780268209018/…

Si, como reporta @WSJ, el gobierno de Trump autorizó a Chevron a vender petróleo venezolano nuevamente, ha tomado la decisión correcta. Hay amplia evidencia de que las sanciones agravaron la crisis humanitaria sin acercar al país a un cambio político.

If, as @WSJ reports, the Trump administration has authorized Chevron to sell Venezuelan oil again, it has taken the correct decision. There is abundant evidence that sanctions deepened the country’s humanitarian crisis without bringing it any closer to political change.

🇻🇪Me permito compartir con ustedes una reflexión que escribí sobre las sanciones, desde la mirada de la juventud, a propósito del estudio sobre las muertes en países sancionados publicado por The Lancet, realizado por @frrodriguezc, Silvio Rendón y @MarkWeisbrot 👇

Sorry, I made a mistake. The correct figure is 38 million deaths associated with unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and EU during the period 1970-2021. I had assumed that the annual average reported in the paper (564k deaths) applied to the whole period 1970-2021. Summing…

In @TheLancet, there is a brilliant paper on the impact of unilateral, illegal sanctions by the US and European Union. This is by @frrodriguezc, @SilvioRRendon, and our old friend @MarkWeisbrot of @ceprdc. The study will be the focus of our discussion in next week's…

US sanctions harm tens of millions of Venezuelan civilians and drive mass migration. Sanctions relief and diplomatic engagement is the right approach. This is a positive step — Trump admin should end all sanctions that aim to prevent the Venezuelan economy from recovering.

Trump’s Executive Order for forcible removal of homeless people is eerily similar to Venezuela’s 1939 Law of Vagrants and Crooks (Ley de Vagos y Maleantes), abolished in 1997. npr.org/2025/07/24/nx-…

Trump’s new homelessness order revives the logic of the UK’s Poor Laws and Vagrancy Acts. Once widespread globally, these laws were largely repealed by the late 20th century. Homelessness is not a threat. It is a symptom of societal failure. whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/20…

Gracias a @madrugonazo por este valioso artículo sobre nuestro estudio en The Lancet Global Health. Es vital que se abran espacios en el debate público para reflexionar sobre el impacto humano de las sanciones. bitlysdowssl-aws.com/2025/07/sancio… via @ElNacionalWeb

.@TheLancetGH study by @MarkWeisbrot @frrodriguezc @SilvioRRendons analyzed 152 countries over 50 years. One ugly truth emerged —half of all sanctions deaths are toddlers. Kids under 5: 51% of victims Children + elderly: 77% of deaths bit.ly/Sanctions_Study

.@MarkWeisbrot @frrodriguezc @SilvioRRendon found kids under 1 year old face the highest death rates from #sanctions, followed by 60-80 yr olds. Sanctions are economic weapons that devastate the most vulnerable. More in @TheLancetGH: bit.ly/Sanctions_Study

Andry Hernández, uno de los deportados desde el CECOT. Un retorno que es un alivio para los inocentes y sus familias. Los venezolanos no merecemos tanto maltrato, ese que nos están prodigando desde todos los flancos, afuera y adentro.

Aid sanctions are a more targeted and less aggressive measure of coercion than broader financial sanctions. Yet, a study in the Lancet shows that the most vulnerable populations, mothers and children, face the deepest consequences when aid is withheld. thinkglobalhealth.org/article/civili…

"It is well past time that the U.S., E.U., and other powerful actors in the international community seriously reconsider this cruel and often counterproductive mechanism," said one of the study's @ceprdc authors. By @BrettWilkinsSF commondreams.org/news/immoral-a…

“We estimated that unilateral sanctions were associated with an annual toll of 564 258 deaths between 1971 and 921, similar to the global mortality burden associated with armed conflict.” thelancet.com/journals/langl…

Our new study reveals unilateral sanctions cause over 564K deaths yearly, rivaling death tolls from war. Grateful to @Bloomberg's @Magdalena_971 for covering this critical issue. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Unilateral sanctions kill civilians, as once again demonstrated in a peer-reviewed study. They're not just morally wrong, they also drive migration, damage economic interests, and hurt the US standing in the world. It's past time for us to rethink our sanctions-first approach.

🚨 “Sanctions cause over half a million deaths each year - about as many as are caused by wars.” @frrodriguezc @MarkWeisbrot

Many thanks to @business for covering our new paper estimating the effects of sanctions on age-specific mortality. We find that sanctions are associated with half a million deaths per year - a toll comparable to that of armed conflict. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…