[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 123 (Monday, July 29, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S5531]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Venezuela

  Madam President, in 2018, I had the chance to visit Caracas, 
Venezuela, before they held their last Presidential election. I will 
never forget walking into one of the private hospitals in Caracas and 
seeing the shelves empty of basic medicines and hearing the stories of 
deprivation and political repression that led so many millions to flee 
that country.
  I told President Maduro that if he ran a sham election, which he had 
scheduled, he would find the country even more isolated and the 
Venezuelan people enduring even more suffering. Unfortunately, that is 
the path he pursued, and we have seen the heartbreaking consequences--a 
failed state near economic collapse, millions of refugees in the 
region, and greater reliance on Cuba and Russia to suppress the 
Venezuelan public.
  But yesterday's Presidential election in Venezuela offered a chance 
for change. It has been a perilous process, with the regime 
disqualifying opposition candidates and arresting key opposition 
supporters.
  Yet, on Sunday, millions turned out to vote for a change. These are 
some photographs from the election experience.
  You see people waiting in line, some up to six hours, for the chance 
to vote. Despite independent exit polls showing a wide margin for 
opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, Maduro's regime has, once again, 
tried to claim a dubious victory absent ballot evidence.
  Responsible nations in the region have understandably cast serious 
doubts on the regime's claims and called for a full and transparent 
counting of the ballots. I join in that request.
  With evidence so far pointing to a decisive Gonzalez victory, he 
should be considered President-elect unless credible evidence is 
provided otherwise. The Maduro regime must not be allowed to steal an 
election or any more of the future from the Venezuelan people.