In this article, guest contributor Dr. Ryan C. Berg and columnist Josh Chang evaluate the effectiveness of US sanctions on the Maduro regime in Venezuela and offer recommendations on how to improve the sanctions framework with the ultimate goal of facilitating a democratic transition in the country.

Iran and Venezuela find themselves on the receiving end of high-pressure US sanctions for gross abuses of international norms and human rights. They are ostracized by regional neighbors for these violations. Their regimes openly embrace an ideology of anti-imperialism that viciously criticizes what they perceive to be Washington’s interventionist foreign policy, which unites them in what Alberto Garrido dubs a “strategic alliance.”