[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 154 (Monday, September 17, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6181-S6182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             JUAN REQUESENS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, earlier this year, I had the opportunity 
to visit Venezuela, a once proud Latin American democracy that is now 
in a state of collapse. The country was planning a Presidential 
election a few weeks after my visit in late May.
  My message to President Maduro and members of his government during 
this visit was clear and simple. They should run a clean election in 
which opposition candidates are released from detention and allowed to 
participate. Local and international observers should be allowed to 
observe the entire electoral process. The election should be 
administered in a fair and open manner by credible nonpartisan election 
commissioners.

[[Page S6182]]

  These were the same messages told to Venezuela by its neighbors in 
Latin America.
  I suggested that meeting these obvious international norms and 
restoring the power of the country's duly elected National Assembly 
would help ease Venezuela's isolation and the suffering of its people.
  Tragically, obstinately, President Maduro and his circle of corrupt 
colleagues chose to double down. They held a sham election.
  Its legitimacy was rejected by the international community and the 
consequences have been predictable: continued mass exodus of desperate 
Venezuelans to neighboring countries, inflation nearing 1 million 
percent, deepening international isolation, and of course, an 
increasingly ruthless crackdown on political opponents to further 
solidify the regime's illegitimate hold on power.
  This regime already had a shameful history of jailing political 
opponents. Their victims include Judge Maria Afiuni, who had the 
courage to rule against the government on a case before her, Leopoldo 
Lopez, the former mayor of Caracas who was a highly popular national 
candidate and therefore remains under house arrest and unable to 
compete in elections, and so many others including a number of dual 
American-Venezuelan citizens.
  And now, it has jailed young elected National Assembly Member Juan 
Requesens on highly questionable charges.
  His crime? Criticizing President Maduro and the staggering human 
suffering and the demise of democracy under his dictatorial rule.
  Haunting videos of Requesens in detention have surfaced which 
strongly suggest torture and inhumane treatment.
  Several months ago, I had the great pleasure of sitting down with 
several of Juan's colleagues when I was in Caracas. These are the next 
generation of young leaders, brave men and women who won at the ballot 
box in many areas previously won by Hugo Chavez and Maduro.
  They won because they made an effort to understand voters' economic 
concerns and how former ruling parties had too often become corrupt or 
ignored the poor. They were the hope for the future, but to this Maduro 
regime, they were a threat.
  So voter and candidate registrations were manipulated to make it 
harder for opposition parties and candidates to compete. Elected 
National Assembly Members were harassed and threatened. In some cases, 
their passports were confiscated.
  I will never forget when they told me that, if I returned a year 
later, that half of them might be gone, jailed or chased into exile. 
Sadly, they were right.
  My colleagues Senators Menendez, Nelson, Rubio, Cornyn, and I will 
introduce legislation in the days ahead that will further targeted 
sanctions against those Venezuelan officials responsible for this 
scandalous regime and those responsible for Juan's detention. It will 
also provide additional aid to help with the humanitarian crises in and 
along Venezuela's borders.
  I wish we had not reached this desperate moment. I wish the Maduro 
regime would play by basic democratic rules and let the Venezuelan 
people freely decide their leaders. I wish the Maduro regime had the 
courage to compete in a free and fair election.
  But it didn't.
  So until it does and until Leopoldo, Juan, and the many other 
Venezuelan political prisoners are freed, the National Assembly's 
powers restored, and a legitimate democratic process is reestablished, 
I will continue to support pressure on this corrupt regime and 
sanctioning those responsible for the Venezulea's misery.

                          ____________________