Higher education ‘under siege’ in Venezuela

This article completely lacks essential political context. While falling oil prices have not helped the economy, US sanctions against Venezuela - dating from April 2016 and imposed again in February, May and July 2017 (and subsequently in August and November 2017 and March 2018) have had a critical impact. The sanctions block financial transactions, both payments and remittances, freeze Venezuela's assets held externally and delay buying and selling operations, not only of the Venezuelan government and companies but also foreign business partners. To ignore this chokehold placed on the Venezuelan economy by the US is one-sided journalism unworthy of the THES.