Interview: Venezuela suffers U.S.-motivated "second phase of international siege" -- analyst

The moves the United States made recently against Venezuela are part of "the second phase of an international siege" it uses to stifle the South American country amid its political and economic crises, said a political analyst.

Jose Antonio Egido, professor of sociology at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, told Xinhua in a recent interview that the United States uses the moves, non-military at this stage, to increase political pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

"Since the Maduro government has not fallen despite an economic crisis, the United States is taking actions through the local opposition and manipulating the Organization of American States (OAS)," said Egido.

At the end of last May, OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro called for invoking the body's Inter-American Democratic Charter (IDC) against Venezuela. However, the attempt was thwarted by OAS members at a special OAS session held in early June who instead appealed for further dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition.

Egido said the United States listed Venezuela in its Country Reports on Terrorism 2015 issued in early June, accusing Venezuela of allowing listed Colombian rebel groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army to operate from bases on its territory.

The United States also accused Venezuela of helping sympathizers of the Basque group ETA and the Lebanese Islamic group Hezbollah.

Egido noted that in this "more aggressive" second phase of an "international siege", the United States is also piling up financial pressure so that "no country lends money to Venezuela" despite the current economic crisis.

It "seeks an eventual asphyxiation of Venezuela, which the government is continuing to resist," he added.

Egido said that in the meantime, the United States has also put on regional blocs such as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America.

Egido believes that the U.S. moves have encouraged the Venezuelan opposition alliance the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) to stick to its tough stand.

"The MUD views efforts made by UNASUR towards negotiations and non-violence in Venezuela as treacherous," he said.

Egido noted that dialogue is the only way out for resolving the existing political tension in Venezuela. Endi