The Americans of Venezuelan and Cuban origin residing in Florida are in favor of the Joe Biden Administration putting humanitarian attention first in its pressure measures on the Government of Nicolás Maduro, with a clear drop in support for sanctions that may indirectly affect the population such as those dictated against the oil sector, according to a survey.
The survey, prepared by the ‘think tank’ The Atlantic Council based on more than 600 interviews conducted in February, pulses the opinion of a community that has traditionally been key in determining Washington’s roadmap in relation to Latin America.
Almost nine out of ten respondents are clear that Maduro is responsible for the crisis in which Venezuela is living, but two out of three demand both the United States and the international community as a whole to try to provide more humanitarian aid to the South American country, regardless that the president remains or in power.
With Donald Trump in power, the US Administration made it clear that Maduro’s departure was a ‘sine qua non’ condition for reviewing his sanctions policy. With Biden in the White House, there have been no major changes in the messages against a leader who remains a “dictator” in the eyes of the United States.
73 percent are in favor of foreign governments using the assets blocked to Chavismo to pay for this aid, within a context in which most of those interviewed continue to support the strategy of “maximum pressure” and to maintain the punishments against Venezuelan leaders.
Although 77 of the people interviewed support the current sanctions against the oil industry, one in two is in favor of easing them if this can facilitate the importation of food and medicine to Venezuela.
In relation to the situation of Venezuelan immigrants in the United States, 89 percent of the people surveyed by ‘The Atlantic Council’ support the decision to provide them with temporary legal status, a figure similar to that of those who advocate a more permanent solution for this collective.
