Futures Held Hostage

In the wake of the failed coup in January 2019, the US has targeted Venezuela through a combination of non-traditional means. Rather than deploying military force, it has engaged in a 'hybrid war', using state and non-state actors to exert political, economic and social pressure across various spheres of everyday life. This has deliberately impacted the poorest and most vulnerable citizens. Futures Held Hostage explores the features of this hybrid war, showing that the victims are being 'held hostage' with no foreseeable resolution. With essays from historian Vijay Prashad, journalists Belen Fernandez and Anya Parampil, economist Prabhat Patnaik, and political theorist George Ciccariello-Maher, as well as interviews with figures such as UN diplomat Samuel Moncada, and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, this book exposes the ways that the Venezuelan people have experienced the effects of sanctions, rising mortality and decreasing life expectancy due to impaired distribution of food, medicine, housing and healthcare. Futures Held Hostage demonstrates that this punishment is a response to Venezuela's attempts to assert its independence from international finance capital and construct a future at odds with global neoliberal regimes. A mass, popular movement against US policy will be a vital component of a more just and equitable future in Venezuela, the United States, and the world at large.