Whereas both the United States and Venezuela were among
the 21 original members that founded the Organization of American States on May
5, 1948;
Whereas both the United States and Venezuela joined the
other 34 Organization of American States member nations and approved and
accepted the Inter-American Democratic Charter on September 11, 2001;
Whereas Article 1 of the Organization of American States
Inter-American Democratic Charter states the peoples of the Americas have a
right to democracy and their governments have an obligation to promote and
defend it;
Whereas Article 4 of the Organization of American States
Inter-American Democratic Charter states transparency in government activities,
probity, responsible public administration on the part of governments, respect
for social rights, and freedom of expression and of the press are essential
components of the exercise of democracy;
Whereas Article 57 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela guarantees the right of all citizens to freely express
their thoughts and opinions;
Whereas Article 106 of the Charter for the Organization of
American States establishes an Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights, whose principal function shall be to promote the observance and
protection of human rights and to serve as a consultative organ of the
Organization in these matters
;
Whereas the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
report entitled Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela, published February 24,
2010, found that the government of President Hugo Chavez employs the punitive
power of the state to intimidate or punish people inside Venezuela on account
of their political opinions;
Whereas the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
report entitled Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela found that conditions
do not exist for human rights defenders and journalists to be able to freely
carry out their work in Venezuela;
Whereas the Department of State declared on November 29,
2009, that the United States commends the Honduran people for peacefully
exercising their democratic right to select their leaders in an electoral
process that began over a year ago
;
Whereas, prior to the election in Honduras, President
Chavez announced on Venezuelan state television that he put the military of
Venezuela on alert in response to the removal by the people of Honduras of
Chavez’s ally Manuel Zelaya;
Whereas the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
report entitled Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela concluded that
constraints on freedom of expression and the right to protest peaceably and the
existence of a climate hostile to the free exercise of dissenting political
participation contribute to the weakening of the rule of law and democracy in
Venezuela;
Whereas, on June 14, 2010, the Department of State
described an arrest order issued by the government of President Chavez for the
owner of Venezuela's last remaining independent television station as
the latest example of the government of Venezuela's continuing assault
on the freedom of the press
and urged Venezuela to honor its
commitment under the Inter-American Democratic Charter to uphold the principle
that respect for human rights, including freedom of the press, is essential to
representative democracies
; and
Whereas the people of Venezuela will hold parliamentary
elections on September 26, 2010: Now, therefore, be it
That it is the sense of the Senate
that—
(1)the people and
Government of the United States support the right of the people of Venezuela to
free and fair elections as guaranteed by the Organization of American States
Democratic Charter;
(2)the people and
Government of the United States support the right of the people of Venezuela to
the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, and their right to freely
express their political views as guaranteed by the Organization of American
States Democratic Charter; and
(3)the people and
Government of the United States summarily reject any effort by President Chavez
to invoke the punitive power of the state to intimidate or punish the people of
Venezuelan who exercise their right to express their political opinions, their
right to assemble, and their right to vote in a free and fair elections.