[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1409 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1409

   Standing in solidarity with the Venezuelan people and condemning 
Nicolas Maduro's attempt to steal the Venezuelan Presidential election.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 2, 2024

  Ms. Wasserman Schultz (for herself, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Ms. Wilson of 
Florida, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Soto, Mr. Gimenez, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. 
Waltz, Mr. Moskowitz, Ms. Salazar, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Mr. Mast, 
   Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mr. Mooney, Ms. Titus, Mrs. Gonzalez-
 Colon, Mr. Costa, Mr. Huizenga, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Smith of 
New Jersey, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, 
 Mr. Connolly, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Garcia of Texas, 
    Mrs. Torres of California, Ms. Manning, and Mr. Reschenthaler) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Standing in solidarity with the Venezuelan people and condemning 
Nicolas Maduro's attempt to steal the Venezuelan Presidential election.

Whereas, on July 28, 2024, more than 11,000,000 Venezuelans turned out to vote 
        in the Venezuelan Presidential election;
Whereas this election was preceded by over a decade of violent repression and 
        persecution of political opponents, elimination of checks and balances, 
        capture of state institutions, extrajudicial murder, arbitrary detention 
        and torture, curtailed freedom of expression and the press, and 
        systematic abuse of power by Nicolas Maduro and his regime;
Whereas the vast majority of the more than 8,000,000 Venezuelan citizens who 
        have fled Venezuela under Maduro's reign were denied their right to vote 
        in this election due to excessive and arbitrary legal requirements to 
        register;
Whereas opposition leaders Maria Corina Machado and Corina Yoris were banned 
        from running for President by the regime-controlled supreme court 
        despite Machado winning the opposition Presidential primary with over 90 
        percent of the vote;
Whereas the Maduro regime barred several groups of independent electoral 
        observers from entering the country to monitor the election;
Whereas the Maduro regime has arbitrarily detained, forcefully disappeared, or 
        forced into exile thousands of opposition political organizers, 
        activists, human rights defenders, and others perceived to be critical 
        of Maduro's illegitimate rule in Venezuela;
Whereas, according to Foro Penal, the Maduro regime currently holds more than 
        270 political prisoners and has conducted over 15,000 politically 
        motivated arbitrary arrests over the last decade in Venezuela;
Whereas Nicolas Maduro stated prior to the election that he had no intention of 
        accepting defeat or providing for a peaceful transition of power;
Whereas the United States determined that these arbitrary and unconstitutional 
        actions by the Maduro regime violated the terms of the Barbados 
        Agreement, which provided for certain electoral conditions to be met and 
        was signed by the regime and the opposition democratic Unitary Platform;
Whereas despite these conditions rendering the election neither free nor fair, 
        Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia stepped forward to represent the opposition in 
        the election for President in order to provide an alternative to 
        Maduro's tyranny;
Whereas, according to the opposition, official tally sheets from 24,384 voting 
        centers in Venezuela, representing 81.21 percent of the total estimated 
        vote count, were collected by observers;
Whereas the results from these tally sheets appear to demonstrate an 
        overwhelming victory for Gonzalez, who received 7,119,768 votes or 67 
        percent of the total, over Maduro, who received only 3,225,819 votes or 
        30 percent of the total;
Whereas the margin of victory for Gonzalez is such that the remaining 18.79 
        percent of uncounted votes would not be sufficient to reverse the 
        result;
Whereas the regime-controlled National Electoral Council refused to reveal the 
        votes and instead announced that Maduro had prevailed in the election 
        while failing to announce disaggregated results by polling station;
Whereas the announced results are not evidenced with any electoral data and 
        appear to represent a blatant electoral fraud at the behest of Maduro;
Whereas hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who gathered to peacefully protest 
        the Maduro regime's attempt to steal the election were met with 
        arbitrary force and violent repression that has left hundreds arrested, 
        at least 16 dead, and hundreds injured;
Whereas the Maduro regime has issued arrest warrants for Maria Corina Machado 
        and Edmundo Gonzalez on false criminal charges; and
Whereas the United States was joined by 16 Latin American and Caribbean nations, 
        the European Union, and several other democratic governments in raising 
        concerns about this apparent electoral fraud, requesting the release of 
        full, transparent, and detailed voting data, and demanding that the 
        Maduro regime honor the will of the Venezuelan people: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the President-
        elect of Venezuela;
            (2) expresses solidarity with the Venezuelan people and 
        Venezuelan Americans in their aspirations for a democratic 
        future for Venezuela;
            (3) commends Venezuela's pro-democracy opposition movement 
        for their pursuit of a peaceful transition of power through 
        electoral means despite the regime's actions over the last year 
        that rendered the election neither free nor fair;
            (4) condemns the Maduro regime's cowardly and destructive 
        attempt to steal the election and undermine the will of the 
        Venezuelan people;
            (5) denounces the Maduro regime's violent repression of 
        Venezuelans peacefully demonstrating in support of democracy;
            (6) affirms that the will of the voters must be respected 
        and a peaceful transition of power initiated;
            (7) calls for the imposition of new sanctions on the Maduro 
        regime as well as sanctions targeting individuals and entities 
        involved in subverting democracy and repressing the opposition, 
        including foreign governments and non-state entities assisting 
        the regime's election subversion and repression; and
            (8) calls on the United States Government and all 
        democratic nations to reject Maduro's fraudulent claim of 
        victory and employ all available diplomatic and economic means 
        to pressure the Maduro regime to honor the true election 
        results.
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