Menendez, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Support Venezuelan People

Press Release

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act, today joined a group of Senators in introducing bipartisan legislation to provide humanitarian assistance for the Venezuelan people, support a coordinated multilateral response to political and humanitarian challenges, and to defend democratic governance and combat widespread public corruption in Venezuela. Following an effort lead by Sen. Menendez, this legislation also includes a section recognizing that potential control by Rosneft, a Russian government-controlled entity currently under U.S. sanctions, of Citgo assets would pose a significant risk to U.S. national security and energy security, and calls on the President to take all necessary steps to prevent Rosneft from gaining control of U.S. energy infrastructure.

Amidst a years-long economic crisis that has put food, medicine and basic services out of the hands of millions of Venezuelans, thousands of protesters continue to demonstrate across the country, hundreds of political prisoners remain in custody, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has recently announced he will seek the country's removal from the Organization of American States, the hemisphere's preeminent multilateral organization for upholding democratic principles and universal human rights.

"The United States Congress is forced once again to take forceful legislative action in light of the appalling dismantling of democracy, explosion of human rights abuses and boiling economic crisis in Venezuela," said Sen. Menendez, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. "The suffering of the people of Venezuela is real and harrowing, and it now appears evident Nicolas Maduro will continue abusing them without any accountability and will continue to drive his country's economy further into the ground unless the international community steps up in a major way. So as the Venezuelan regime spirals out of control, this bipartisan legislation represents our resolve for the United States to speak unequivocally in our rejection of the abhorrent state of affairs in Venezuela and its potential destabilizing impact in our hemisphere."

Joining the Senator in introducing the Venezuela Humanitarian Assistance and Defense of Democratic Governance Act of 2017 were U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

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