A resolution denouncing the Maduro regime's efforts to hold fraudulent legislative elections, the absence of acceptable conditions to ensure free, fair, and transparent electoral processes in Venezuela, and the further erosion of Venezuelan democracy.

III 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. RES. 749 Denouncing the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold fraudulent legislative elec- tions, the absence of acceptable conditions to ensure free, fair, and transparent electoral processes in Venezuela, and the further erosion of Venezuelan democracy. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 20 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. KAINE) submitted the following resolu- tion; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations RESOLUTION Denouncing the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold fraudulent legislative elections, the absence of acceptable conditions to ensure free, fair, and transparent electoral processes in Venezuela, and the further erosion of Venezuelan de- mocracy. Whereas the regime of Nicola´s Maduro is undertaking efforts to hold fraudulent legislative elections for Venezuela’s National Assembly in December 2020 that will not com- ply with international standards for free, fair, and trans- parent electoral processes; Whereas the Maduro regime is seeking to use fraudulent leg- islative elections to undermine Venezuela’s sitting demo- cratically elected National Assembly; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR749.IS SR749 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •SRES 749 IS Whereas, as codified under section 112 of the VERDAD Act of 2019 (22 U.S.C. 9702), it is the policy of the United States to recognize the democratically elected National Assembly of Venezuela, elected in December 2015 and sworn in on January 2016, as the only legitimate na- tional legislative body in Venezuela; Whereas the United States Government and members of the international community have rightly denounced the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold fraudulent legislative elections in December 2020; Whereas, on October 13, 2020, members of the Lima Group—including Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colom- bia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela—issued a joint declara- tion on the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold legislative elections in December 2020 that expressed ‘‘firm rejec- tion of the continuing of the illegitimate regime of Nicola´s Maduro in holding parliamentary elections with- out the minimum democratic guarantees and without the participation of all political forces’’; Whereas, on September 17, 2020, the International Contact Group on Venezuela—whose members include Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the European Union, France, Ger- many, Italy, the Netherlands, Panama, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay—issued a joint declaration on the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold legislative elections in December 2020 that stated that ‘‘conditions are not met, at the moment, for a trans- parent, inclusive, free and fair electoral process’’; Whereas, on June 12, 2020, the Maduro regime’s illegitimate Supreme Court unilaterally appointed new members to VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR749.IS SR749 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •SRES 749 IS Venezuela’s National Electoral Council without the ap- proval of the democratically elected National Assembly; Whereas, throughout 2020, the Maduro regime— (1) sought to co-opt and undermine independent po- litical parties through a campaign of systematic persecu- tion; and (2) used its discredited Supreme Court to strip inde- pendent political parties of their leadership, including Voluntad Popular, Primero Justicia, and Accio´n Democra´tica; Whereas the Maduro regime has a demonstrated track record of holding fraudulent elections over the last four years; Whereas, on July 30, 2017, the Maduro regime manipulated the results for Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly by more than 1,000,000 votes, according to Smartmatic, the com- pany that supplied Venezuela’s electronic voting ma- chines; Whereas, in May 2018, the Maduro regime held fraudulent presidential elections that were broadly criticized as ille- gitimate, leading more than 50 countries to recognize the end of Nicola´s Maduro’s term in office and the inaugura- tion of National Assembly President Juan Guaido´ as In- terim-President of Venezuela on January 23, 2019; Whereas, according to the Venezuelan constitution, Juan Guaido´, as President of the National Assembly, serves as Venezuela’s Interim President in the absence of demo- cratically elected president of Venezuela; Whereas the conditions do not currently exist for the free, fair, and transparent election of new members of the Na- tional Assembly or the president of Venezuela; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR749.IS SR749 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •SRES 749 IS Whereas, as of September 7, 2020, the internationally recog- nized nongovernmental organization Foro Penal con- firmed that, out of the 110 individuals recently released from prison by the Maduro regime to serve out the re- mainder of their sentences under house arrest, 53 were political prisoners, and that currently 363 political pris- oners remain unjustly detained by the dictatorship with- out due process; Whereas, on September 16, 2020, the United Nations Inde- pendent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela found that Nicola´s Maduro and senior members of his regime ordered and carried out a campaign of extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detentions that amounted to systemic crimes against humanity; Whereas the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold fraudulent legis- lative elections, undermine the democratically elected Na- tional Assembly and independent political parties, and implement a campaign of state-sponsored violence and re- pression further erodes democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela; and Whereas, as codified under section 4 of the Venezuela De- fense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act (Public Law 113–278; 128 U.S.C. 3013), it is the policy of the United States ‘‘to support the people of Venezuela in their aspiration to live under conditions of peace and rep- resentative democracy as defined by the Inter-American Democratic Charter of the Organization of American States’’: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate— 1 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR749.IS SR749 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •SRES 749 IS (1) denounces efforts by the Maduro regime to 1 hold fraudulent legislative elections in an effort to 2 undermine Venezuela’s democratically elected Na- 3 tional Assembly; 4 (2) joins members of the international commu- 5 nity, including members of the Lima Group, in 6 rightfully rejecting the Maduro’s regime efforts to 7 carry out fraudulent legislative elections; 8 (3) urges that presidential and legislative elec- 9 tions in Venezuela be conducted at the earliest pos- 10 sible date according to international standards for 11 free, fair, and transparent electoral processes, in- 12 cluding credible international election observation; 13 (4) calls on the Maduro regime to cease its 14 campaign of systematic persecution against Ven- 15 ezuela’s independent political parties and their lead- 16 ership; 17 (5) calls on the Maduro regime to immediately 18 release all political prisoners, facilitate access by hu- 19 manitarian organizations, and end its campaign of 20 extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, tor- 21 ture, and arbitrary detentions of political opponents, 22 human rights defenders, civil society activists, peace- 23 ful protesters, and citizens; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR749.IS SR749 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •SRES 749 IS (6) takes note of the finding of the United Na- 1 tions Independent International Fact-Finding Mis- 2 sion on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that 3 the Maduro regime’s campaign of state-sponsored vi- 4 olence and repression against the people of Ven- 5 ezuela amounted to crimes against humanity, and 6 calls for Nicola´s Maduro and senior members of his 7 regime to be held accountable for their actions. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Oct 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR749.IS SR749 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS