[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 129 (Monday, July 31, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4611-S4612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Venezuela

  Mr. NELSON. Madam President, we have chaos in Venezuela. It is a 
protracted crisis in Venezuela, which took yet another turn for the 
worse yesterday.
  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pushed ahead with a vote to form 
a constitutional assembly despite the vehement opposition of the 
Venezuelan people and overwhelming international criticism. It became a 
sham vote. Only about 10 percent of the population voted. The 
opposition stayed home. Plain and simple, the vote was illegal, and it 
was rigged. Once again, on the streets and at the ballot box, the 
Venezuelan people have made themselves heard loud and clear. Two weeks 
ago, more than 7 million Venezuelans voted against even holding this 
vote, and, yesterday, millions of people stayed home.
  Maduro wants to rewrite Venezuela's Constitution so that he can cling 
to power, and yesterday's vote was only the latest attempt to 
undermine, if not to completely undo, Venezuela's democracy. He 
continues to crack down on protesters, killing more than 100 and 
injuring and arresting thousands more. His thugs have raided homes and 
terrorized the opposition's families. He has tried to strip the 
National Assembly of its powers, undercut the Attorney General, and he 
has co-opted the courts. His thugs attacked the National Assembly and 
injured opposition lawmakers. He blocked a lawful referendum to recall 
his election.
  His cronies steal the country's money and enrich themselves. All the 
while, the Venezuelan people suffer. The people go hungry; children are 
malnourished; there are no staple products--no medicines, no medical 
supplies for the people. Of course, you know who gets the food and the 
medical treatment. It is the privileged few--the Maduro ones whom he 
protects. This is Venezuela's tragic reality.
  Maduro has made himself a dictator, and he and his cronies are bent 
on turning Venezuela's once vibrant democracy and once vibrant economy 
into a Cuban-style regime. Nevertheless, the Venezuelan people, in the 
face of violence, oppression, and deprivation, continue to fight for 
their democracy--for the little bit of freedom they have left. They are 
doing everything they can--at great risk to themselves and their 
families--to save their democracy and, thus, to save their country. The 
task just got a lot harder.
  The issue before us is what we can do to support them since Maduro 
has now installed himself with this fake referendum on the National 
Assembly. What can we do to keep Maduro from being the dictator he is?
  What we need to do is to condemn the National Assembly as the sham 
that it is. It also means the United States increasing the pressure on 
the Maduro regime. I just spoke this afternoon with the Treasury 
Department. The United States announced a little earlier this afternoon 
that it has frozen Maduro's assets. I expect at least two other 
countries to follow suit--and probably more after they do. This is an 
important step, and I hope that it is the first in what will be the 
strongest possible economic sanctions to stop Maduro. It is time that 
we consider cutting the imports of Venezuela's oil also.
  What have we done thus far?
  There was already a group of Maduro's cronies--some in the private 
sector, some in the government--on whom the sanctions have been 
slapped. You ask: What does that do? What good does that do? Listen, 
all of these cronies of Maduro's love to come to Miami. They love to 
have offshore bank accounts and all kinds of assets stashed overseas--
if not in the United States, perhaps in some of those other countries 
that are going to follow suit. We should do that with his cronies.
  What we have done today with the announcement by the Treasury 
Department is to freeze Nicholas Maduro's assets, and if other 
countries will follow suit, they are going to freeze his assets as 
well.
  Maybe we should take the next step. The next step is that Venezuela 
exports a lot of its oil to the United States. It is such a heavy, 
dirty crude that a good part of that has to go to the refineries in the 
United States because those refineries are the ones that are capable of 
refining that heavy, dirty crude. Maybe we just ought to stop our 
imports of Venezuela's oil and absorb that percentage of loss of oil 
that is coming into the United States from Venezuela as, clearly, on 
the world marketplace, oil is fungible. Maybe that is what we ought to 
do because we are now dealing with a Cuban-style dictator who is the 
head of Venezuela.
  I think, in going forward, that the United States must insist on the 
release of all political prisoners and the rule of law and that 
Venezuela has to go back to when it was a thriving democracy. That was 
back when they respected human rights and the people had some freedoms. 
As the United States, we ought to help rally the nations of the 
Organization of American States and rally the support of the world to 
bring about a meaningful end to this crisis because it is just going to 
get worse and worse.
  The violence that you have seen on the TV yesterday and today is 
going to continue. As you continue to squeeze the people, to starve 
them, to take away all semblance of human decency, what do you think 
they are going to do? They are going to revolt, and the violence is not 
going to stop.
  There is a role for Congress, and there is an opportunity for the 
Congress to lead. The President's budget eliminated the funding for 
democracy programs in Venezuela that supported the old National 
Assembly and civil society and those same democracy programs that 
promoted human rights and the encouraging of an independent media.
  Recently I wrote to the Senate Appropriations Committee, along with a 
number of other Senators, urging that the committee continue that 
funding for those democracy programs in Venezuela. In May, this Senator 
joined Senators Cardin and Rubio and seven others in introducing the 
Venezuela Humanitarian Assistance and Defense of Democratic Governance 
Act. That bill addresses the many aspects of the crisis in Venezuela.
  It codified targeted sanctions on regime officials--something we are 
now implementing--and thank goodness for this announcement today by the 
administration. I give them kudos for that. That act would authorize 
badly needed humanitarian assistance. It would back OAS efforts to 
bring about an end to the crisis, and it funds election observation 
organizations and

[[Page S4612]]

groups working to defend democracy in Venezuela.
  These are bipartisan efforts, and I urge our colleagues to support 
them, and I urge that we bring them up as soon as possible. The 
situation is terrible in the country, and the situation in that chaos, 
especially what we have seen in Caracas, is going to get worse. Time is 
of the essence.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moran). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ENZI. 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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