News

Bill now awaits President’s signature to become law

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) welcomed today’s passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of S. 2142, The Venezuela Human Rights and Defense of Civil Society Act. Having also passed in the Senate on Monday evening, the bill now awaits the President’s signature to become law.

View Rubio’s remarks here in English and here in Spanish.

For TV stations interested in airing a broadcast quality version of Rubio’s statements, downloads are available here in English and here in Spanish. For radio stations interested in airing audio, mp3 downloads are available here in English and in Spanish.

Rubio issued the following statement:

“With these sanctions, we can end the days of Venezuelan regime officials and thugs repressing innocent Venezuelans in their day jobs and then coming to Florida to live in the lap of luxury and splurge Venezuela’s wealth. This is the first step to address human rights violations in Venezuela, and it will be a blow to the hypocrites in Nicolás Maduro’s regime who talk a lot about socialist sacrifice but who themselves are immune from its failures and live in a fantasy world of gold-plated iPads and fancy cars, even though most Venezuelans can’t even find basic necessities like food and toilet paper.

“Although passing this sanctions legislation is important, it’s only the first step in our work supporting the human rights and democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people. As Venezuela’s economy and society further deteriorates under the weight of an incompetent, unaccountable and repressive government, failed socialist economic system and dropping oil prices, I believe we are going to see even more repression from Maduro’s regime.”

S. 2142 was sponsored by Rubio and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ). The House effort to pass Venezuela sanctions legislation was led by Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart.

S. 2142 directs the President to apply targeted visas and financial sanctions against individuals, including members of the government, public security forces, and armed civilian groups, who have perpetrated, ordered or directed acts of violence or human rights abuses against peaceful demonstrators in Venezuela, or have directed or ordered the arrest or prosecution of a person primarily because of the person’s legitimate exercise of freedom of expression or assembly. S. 2142 also calls for a report on obstacles to access objective media content in Venezuela, current efforts by the U.S. government to address these challenges, and a strategy for expanding existing programs.

SPANISH VERSION OF STATEMENT

“Con estas sanciones, podemos poner fin a los días en que individuos del régimen violan los derechos humanos del pueblo venezolano durante la semana y luego se pasan sus vacaciones en la Florida viviendo de lujo y malgastando la riqueza de Venezuela. Este primer paso lo sentirán los hipócritas del régimen de Nicolás Maduro que hablan tanto del sacrificio socialista, pero que viven exentos de los fracasos de este sistema, y dentro de un mundo de fantasía con iPads forradas en oro y carros de lujo, todo esto mientras que al pueblo venezolano le cuesta trabajo encontrar las necesidades básicas como comida y papel sanitario.

“Aunque estas sanciones son importantes, solo es el primer paso en nuestro trabajo apoyando los derechos humanos y las aspiraciones democráticas del pueblo venezolano. Vamos a seguir viendo el empeoramiento de la economía y la sociedad venezolana bajo el peso de un gobierno incompetente, irresponsable y represivo – y también bajo el peso de un fracasado sistema socialista y la caída de los precios de petróleo. Debido a todo esto, tenemos que estar preparados para ver aún más represión en el futuro de parte del régimen de Maduro”.