United States Senator and Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menéndez, announced that he will make legislative proposals to expand the influence of the VERDAD law, which aims to ensure that negotiations to restore democracy in Venezuela can go ahead, address the complex humanitarian crisis and ensure that the government of Nicolás Maduro and his cabinet are held accountable for their gross violations of human rights.

In a statement made through his communications team, the senator stated that while Venezuelans seek a future defined by dignity, justice and above all freedom, the Maduro government is taking additional steps to consolidate the autocracy.

Instead of facilitating conditions for democratic elections, the Maduro regime dissolved Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, prevented the main opposition candidate, María Corina Machado, from running, and blocked election monitors from entering the country internationally.” said Senator Menendez in documents accessible to Diario NY.

The plan also envisages that if a negotiated solution is not reached to restore democracy in Venezuela within six months of the enactment of this law, it must warn of the consequences under the State Department’s Narcotics Rewards Program on Nicolás Maduro and others. official.

In addition, the president of the United States will be required to notify INTERPOL of the red notice against Nicolás Maduro and other officials in his administration. The sanctions will also apply to all individuals previously sanctioned by Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom, but not the United States.

“This bill to expand the effect of this law will give hope to the Venezuelan people and serve as a warning to tyrannical regimes around the world that the United States will not allow their oppressive acts to continue without consequences,” the senator said. .

United States humanitarian response

Senator Menéndez mentioned in July that both Venezuelans and Cubans left their countries for a simple fact: they suffer under the grip of brutal dictatorships that repress their citizens ruthlessly and have destroyed their countries’ economies through widespread mismanagement and bribery, not through economic sanctions imposed on the governments of these countries.

In light of this, and surprisingly, a group of more than 50 United States economics and foreign policy experts asked Democratic Senator Bob Menéndez this Wednesday that “stop spreading false narratives” that there is no connection between the economic sanctions imposed on Cuba and Venezuela and migration.

Bob Mendez countered that removing US sanctions on Venezuela would only “betray our democratic values ​​and further strengthen the criminal dictatorship.” The same argument about sanctions, and how they affect the Venezuelan economy, is supported by Madurismo leaders in Venezuela, the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, and the Brazilian president, Luis Ignacio Lula Da Silva. The last two are, at present, the main allies of Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president in the region.

In Senator Menéndez’s new proposal, he subscribes, creating the Venezuelan Forfeiture and Humanitarian Response Fund to reuse assets seized from United States criminal cases against Venezuelan citizens to finance humanitarian purposes.

It also seeks to authorize $300 million to be allocated in assistance to communities across America to integrate Venezuelan refugees and migrants. In addition, it can prohibit the deportation of Venezuelan nationals from the United States via third countries to Venezuela.

On the other hand, the State Department could be asked to publicly announce whether the Maduro government has committed crimes against humanity.

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