A legislative proposal by the United States Senate seeks to make it US policy to support a peaceful transition of power to opposition leaders Edmundo González and María Corina Machado and to hold Chavismo accountable for its “repression” of dissent following the July 28 elections.
The Venezuelan Electorate’s Rejection of the Dictatorship and Aspiration for Democracy Act (VERDAD), presented this Friday by Democratic Senators Ben Cardin (Maryland) and Tim Kaine (Virginia), seeks to hold the “oppressive regime” of Nicolás Maduro responsible for its “repression” of the Venezuelan people and its “continuous efforts to steal” the elections.
“The United States must now lead by imposing clear consequences on Maduro for his fraudulent actions and arbitrary arrests and work together toward a prosperous post-Maduro Venezuela,” said Senator Cardin, who chairs the House Foreign Relations Committee.
Cardin said that the support of the US Congress for the people of Venezuela is “unwavering” and insisted that Democrats and Republicans from both chambers will work on this bill to “push for a free Venezuela where democracy thrives, human rights are defended, and the Venezuelan people can forge their own future.”
Senator Kaine, for his part, denounced that “the blatant disregard” of Chavismo for “the rule of law and human rights” has caused “the largest displacement crisis in Latin America, exacerbating migration in our hemisphere.”
“We cannot sit idly by as Maduro continues to defy the will of the Venezuelan people, and as Venezuelans suffer rampant violence and shortages of basic goods such as food and medicine,” said the Democrat, who chairs the Senate’s Western Hemisphere Subcommittee.
For this reason, the proposal includes an increase in humanitarian aid for the Latin American country, for which “assets confiscated from US criminal cases against Venezuelan citizens” would be reused, and establishes strategies to “counteract (…) political persecution” by the Venezuelan government.
In addition, sanctions will be issued to officials of the regime who “participate in the repression and weakening of democratic governance,” as well as to “Russian, Chinese, Iranian and Cuban entities that provide security support” to the president.
Some 16 Venezuelan officials, including members of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) and the National Electoral Council (CNE), were already sanctioned on September 12 for “impeding an inclusive and competitive electoral process” and “violating the Human and Civil Rights” of the population of the Caribbean country.
On the other hand, those people who “promote a democratic transition” and abandon “complicity” with the regime in terms of human rights abuses will be exempt from this type of punishment from the US Executive.
This legislative initiative will allow “democracy to advance in Venezuela (…) and will improve economic conditions in the country,” Kaine said, highlighting that they are “steps towards stability in the region.”
Venezuela held elections on July 28 in which, according to the government, President Nicolás Maduro won with just over 51 percent of the votes, despite the fact that there are no official results published. Much of the international community has expressed doubts about the legality of the results and the opposition is claiming victory for its candidate, Edmundo González.
