In general, there's a misconception that these countries like Cuba or Venezuela have become poorer as a consequence of sanctions, when in reality the economies have been bankrupted by the governments themselves. The best example of that is what happened in Venezuela. When the whole western world sanctioned Venezuela and its government, the government was forced to dollarize the economy—and most of the population now uses U.S. dollars or Colombian pesos—and inflation fell. It didn't go up as a consequence of international sanctions.
The purpose of the sanctions should either be to dislodge a government or to contain its capacity to do harm. What is that capacity to do harm? They use foreign currency to buy weapons to repress people. They use international currency, trade with China and ties with other authoritarian regimes to fund terrorist organizations. There are Hezbollah ties with the Venezuelan government just as with the Cuban government. There are guerrilla groups working from Colombia and Venezuela that are funded by the Venezuelan regime. Those terrorist groups, guerrilla groups, fuel more refugees from other countries.
You want to starve these governments of funding so they stop doing harm. Understand that they are not governments but criminal organizations that occupy a territory.
The way to help the population is a different way. For example, with the Venezuelan people, Canada has done a lot to allow Canadians to sponsor Venezuelans to come to Canada as refugees, and so have other countries. A different way to help the internal population is humanitarian aid, which people have mentioned. I think the best way is to facilitate international transactions.
How can we allow the Venezuelan people to access U.S. dollars rather than domestic currency so that they can escape inflation? How can we provide Internet access and access to information so that democratic leaders within the country can make change?
That's the kind of thinking we need to have.