[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 112 (Thursday, June 29, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3841-S3842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Venezuela

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak about the 
rise of a failed state, Venezuela, and the manmade tragedy President 
Maduro has imposed on his citizens.
  For 3 months, Venezuelans have taken to the streets in daily 
protests. They are speaking out against their country's economic 
collapse, against widespread food shortages, the disintegration of 
their medical system, against endemic corruption, and against a 
government that denies them their human rights and fundamental 
freedoms.
  Appallingly, President Maduro has responded to the protests by 
unleashing his National Guard. As a recent Washington Post article 
stated, ``Mr. Maduro and the corrupt clique around him are hanging on 
by the brute force of tear gas, water cannons, mass arrests, and 
shootings by snipers.''
  Since April, Venezuela's increasingly unstable crisis has left over 
75 dead, thousands jailed, and thousands more injured. Yet, instead of 
listening to his people's legitimate demands and mitigating this 
tragedy, President Maduro is attempting to rewrite the Constitution, 
despite widespread opposition. Additionally, he declared this week that 
``what couldn't be done with votes would be done with weapons.''
  This is our hemisphere. This is a hemisphere that prides itself in 
democratic states, and here is the President of Venezuela saying he 
doesn't care what the voters say. With Maduro threatening to use arms 
against his people, one can only imagine the bloodshed and abuses will 
continue unabated.
  Despite these threats, protests endure because Venezuelans see no 
alternatives. They have no other recourse against standing in lines for 
endless hours to scour the empty shelves at their markets. They have no 
other way to channel their sorrow over the spike in maternal and infant 
mortality rates in hospitals that lack supplies to treat the most basic 
diseases. They have no other way to express their outrage at the 
military profiting from corruption in food procurement contracts, even 
while children increasingly suffer the ravages of malnutrition.
  Parallel to the protests, chaos is becoming commonplace. In the past 
72 hours, the National Guard troops have stormed the National Assembly 
and assaulted opposition legislators. They came into the Parliament and 
assaulted the opposition. The supreme court has stripped the attorney 
general, Luisa Ortega, of her authorities for her criticism of 
President Maduro.
  We have seen lootings and the burning of government buildings. 
Alarmingly, a rogue police officer commandeered a helicopter and 
launched grenades and small arms fire while flying over the supreme 
court. These incidents from just the last 3 days should make it clear 
to all we are now dealing with a failed state in our own hemisphere.
  As this crisis cripples Venezuela, I call on all sides to refrain 
from violence. I also want to recognize that the current situation is 
the product of 18 years of systematic efforts to dismantle Venezuela's 
democratic institutions.
  Since coming to power, President Maduro--like Hugo Chavez before 
him--has filled the ranks of government with loyalists who have led the 
economy to hyperinflation and the brink of default. State oil companies 
like PDVSA, the country's only source of revenue, has been purged of 
its expertise. In a truly devastating blow to democracy and the rule of 
law, the judiciary has been entirely sapped of its independence so it 
now functions as a political appendage of the executive branch.
  In the 18 months since the opposition coalition won control of the 
National Assembly--and I must tell you there was hope when we saw the 
voters in Venezuela enacted a new government in their Parliament--the 
supreme court has overturned every piece of legislation passed, gave 
itself authority to approve the national budget, and in April 
temporarily usurped the rest of the legislature's authorities, 
completely reversing the will of the people.
  Additionally, as Venezuela's civilian and military justice systems 
have become accomplices to persecution and torture, the number of 
political prisoners has soared. Leopoldo Lopez, Judge Afiuni, Daniel 
Ceballos--these are just some of the more well-known names among the 
more than 350 political prisoners recognized by Venezuelan human rights 
NGO Foro Penal. These are people who are in prison as a result of their 
political beliefs.
  It is no surprise the decay of judicial independence has led to an 
alarming rise in corruption and impunity. It is now a stated fact that 
senior officials have syphoned billions out of Venezuela and are 
engaged in the illegal drug trade.
  In response, the United States has designated a dozen people under 
the Kingpin sanctions, including Vice President Tareck El Aissami. 
Interior Minister Reverol was indicted in the United States last year 
for drug trafficking. Even Maduro's nephews were convicted in the 
United States on drug charges.

  The sum of these trend lines is truly disturbing. Today, Venezuela is 
a failed state, where authoritarian leaders profit from links to 
corruption and drug trafficking, while the Venezuelan people are 
subject to precarious humanitarian conditions and human rights abuses. 
Against this backdrop, we require little explanation why more than 
18,000 Venezuelans sought asylum in the United States last year.
  We are all concerned about the flight of people at risk. What is 
happening in Venezuela directly impacts people trying to seek safety 
coming into the United States. If all this wasn't enough, in late 2016, 
Venezuelan State oil company PDVSA used its U.S. subsidiary Citgo as 
collateral to secure a loan from Rosneft, a company that is controlled 
by the Russian Government and is currently under U.S. sanctions. The 
result is, the Russian Government holds at least 49.9 percent of 
Citgo's mortgage and could come into control of critical U.S. energy 
infrastructure, including refineries, terminals, and a large network of 
pipelines. This should

[[Page S3842]]

concern every Member of the U.S. Senate.
  So the question for the United States and the international community 
is, How do we respond? What do we do? We cannot let this circumstance 
continue.
  Thankfully, supported by a growing diplomatic coalition that includes 
Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru, Canada, and the United States, the 
Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, 
is marshalling international pressure. Mr. Almagro has called on 
President Maduro to heed the demands of his citizens, free political 
prisoners, permit the delivery of humanitarian assistance, commit to a 
timetable for overdue elections, and restore the authority of the 
National Assembly.
  However, despite Mr. Almagro's leadership, the results of last week's 
meeting of Foreign Ministers was a stunning failure to reach consensus 
on a hemisphere response. Appallingly, eight countries refused to vote 
their conscience, among them Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El 
Salvador, Trinidad, and Suriname. They did not use the power under the 
OAS to recognize that Venezuela today is not living up to its charter 
commitment to be a democratic state. There is a process at the OAS to 
take action. They were unable to do that--a major setback.
  As efforts at the OAS continue, all must remain clear that there are 
no alternative facts when it comes to Venezuela, there is just a 
manmade tragedy that demands collective action.
  While providing full support for multilateral diplomacy, the United 
States must also lead. In May, I introduced bipartisan legislation to 
address the multifaceted crisis in Venezuela. My bill will authorize 
humanitarian assistance and require the State Department to coordinate 
an international approach to humanitarian challenges. The legislation 
will also provide strong congressional backing for OAS efforts, as well 
as funding for international election observers and civil society 
groups working to defend human rights and democratic values.
  Given the rising instability in Venezuela, the bill would codify two 
lines of targeted sanctions against Venezuelan officials involved in 
corruption and undermining democratic governance--the very authorities 
the administration used to rightly sanction members of the Venezuelan 
supreme court last month.
  Congress should act, as we have done in so many other places where we 
show congressional leadership to make it clear that this type of 
activity will not be allowed to continue and that Congress will take a 
strong position to give appropriate authority to sanction those 
individuals who are responsible.
  Finally, the bill would require the State Department and U.S. 
intelligence community to prepare a report on the role of Venezuelan 
officials in corruption and drug trafficking.
  As the instability in Venezuela grows, every day we decide not to act 
only makes the crisis worse. I urge my colleagues to work with 
legislation I have filed. Let's work with the Congress and the 
President to make it clear to the Venezuelan people they are not alone, 
and we will not tolerate a country in our hemisphere to become a failed 
state.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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