‘My daughter could die’: US sanctions hit Venezuelan girl’s medical treatment

A Venezuelan toddler’s life is in danger after sweeping US sanctions against the nation’s companies paralyzed the charity funding her medical treatment, the girl’s devastated father says.

Suffering from a congenital disease, 21-month-old Isabella underwent a liver transplant at a hospital in Argentina in November.

Her medical bills were covered by the Simon Bolivar Foundation, which is run by Citgo, a US subsidiary of Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA. In January, Washington froze around $7 billion of the company’s assets, effectively ending its charity programs.

Isabella still needs specific care and her liver is already “showing a slight rejection because she didn’t continue with her treatment properly as she should have,” her father Douglas told Sputnik.

The [US] blockade is directed against the people, my daughter, because she is not able to continue with her post-transplant treatment. Now she is in a life-threatening situation. She could die. Her organ could fail.

The charities supported by Venezuelan companies are vital to children with chronic diseases that cannot be treated in the country, Douglas explained. Now their work is paralyzed “due to someone else’s whim.”

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