It is totally false that:
... we can not buy medicine ... food ... in the world ... because they are forbidden.
... unless the transactions --- to buy the drugs (and the food) --- were made only through the individual properties (or interests) of the people who have been sanctioned by the US government ...
... which would be foolish since the matter would be immediately resolved simply by designating other signers or intermediaries.
(One does not need to be a genius to reach that conclusion.)
It's more …
Think about this ...
About 5 years ago --- when the drugs began to disappear --- that a considerable part of the Venezuelan population has been buying and importing their own medicines from abroad (Colombia, USA, Canada, Europe, etc.) through friends and family.
So …
If we --- ordinary citizens without extravagant resources --- we are able to find a way to buy our medicines (although not always on time) abroad and receive them here, well ...
so …
... there is absolutely no reason for the Maduro government, which has all the necessary resources to do the same, not to do so.
The government lies to us.
Someone could argue that although General License 4 exists, which would allow to avoid sanctions, maybe they do not want to give it to anyone, well, that could be, but I doubt it a lot since the elected government of the USA (the executive) is governed by laws just as any US citizen is governed by laws, and there in the USA the laws are applied (usually) quite effectively, ... that is, the executive can not simply do what he wants as does Maduro and His collaborators here in Venezuela, Trump can not unilaterally impose a measure at will to not authorize that license to anyone, especially when that license exists precisely to be used when necessary or required.
