Reasons Trump Venezuela embargo won’t end the Maduro regime

The US has announced an economic embargo on Venezuela, intended to put an end to President Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian regime.

In an August 5 executive order, President Donald Trump said that the tough new sanctions — which target any company or individual outside of Venezuela doing business directly or indirectly with Maduro’s government — were a response to the Maduro regime’s “continued usurpation of power” and “human rights abuses.”

All Venezuelan government assets in the United States are also now frozen.

The new measures represent a significant escalation from previous sanctions, which mainly targeted government officials and some key industries such as oil and gas, gold and finance.

But my analysis of Venezuela’s political and economic crisis suggests that an embargo alone will not provoke Maduro’s ouster. Here are five reasons why.