    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 128, 113th Congress, 2nd Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    Public Law 113-278
    113th Congress

    An Act

    To impose targeted sanctions on persons responsible for violations of
    human rights of antigovernment protesters in Venezuela, to strengthen
    civil society in Venezuela, and for other purposes. <>

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
    United States of America in Congress assembled, <>
    SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and
    Civil Society Act of 2014''.
    SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
    (1) The Central Bank of Venezuela and the National
    Statistical Institute of Venezuela stated that the annual
    inflation rate in Venezuela in 2013 was 56.30, the highest level
    of inflation in the Western Hemisphere and the third highest
    level of inflation in the world behind South Sudan and Syria.
    (2) The Central Bank of Venezuela and the Government of
    Venezuela have imposed a series of currency controls that has
    exacerbated economic problems and, according to the World
    Economic Forum, has become the most problematic factor for doing
    business in Venezuela.
    (3) The Central Bank of Venezuela declared that the scarcity
    index of Venezuela reached 29.4 percent in March 2014, which
    signifies that fewer than one in 4 basic goods is unavailable at
    any given time. The Central Bank has not released any
    information on the scarcity index since that time.
    (4) Since 1999, violent crime in Venezuela has risen sharply
    and the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, an independent
    nongovernmental organization, found the national per capita
    murder rate to be 79 per 100,000 people in 2013.
    (5) The international nongovernmental organization Human
    Rights Watch recently stated, ``Under the leadership of
    President Chavez and now President Maduro, the accumulation of
    power in the executive branch and the erosion of human rights
    guarantees have enabled the government to intimidate, censor,
    and prosecute its critics.''.
    (6) The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013
    of the Department of State maintained that in Venezuela ``the
    government did not respect judicial independence or permit
    judges to act according to the law without fear of retaliation''
    and ``the government used the judiciary to intimidate and
    selectively prosecute political, union, business, and civil
    society leaders who were critical of government policies or
    actions''.

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    (7) The Government of Venezuela has detained foreign
    journalists and threatened and expelled international media
    outlets operating in Venezuela, and the international
    nongovernmental organization Freedom House declared that
    Venezuela's ``media climate is permeated by intimidation,
    sometimes including physical attacks, and strong antimedia
    rhetoric by the government is common''.
    (8) Since February 4, 2014, the Government of Venezuela has
    responded to antigovernment protests with violence and killings
    perpetrated by its public security forces.
    (9) In May 2014, Human Rights Watch found that the unlawful
    use of force perpetrated against antigovernment protesters was
    ``part of a systematic practice by the Venezuelan security
    forces''.
    (10) As of September 1, 2014, 41 people had been killed,
    approximately 3,000 had been arrested unjustly, and more than
    150 remained in prison and faced criminal charges as a result of
    antigovernment demonstrations throughout Venezuela.
    (11) Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was arrested on
    February 18, 2014, in relation to the protests and was unjustly
    charged with criminal incitement, conspiracy, arson, and
    property damage. Since his arrest, Lopez has been held in
    solitary confinement and has been denied 58 out of 60 of his
    proposed witnesses at his ongoing trial.
    (12) As of September 1, 2014, not a single member of the
    public security forces of the Government of Venezuela had been
    held accountable for acts of violence perpetrated against
    antigovernment protesters.
    SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ANTIGOVERNMENT PROTESTS IN
    VENEZUELA AND THE NEED TO PREVENT FURTHER
    VIOLENCE IN VENEZUELA.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
    (1) the United States aspires to a mutually beneficial
    relationship with Venezuela based on respect for human rights
    and the rule of law and a functional and productive relationship
    on issues of public security, including counternarcotics and
    counterterrorism;
    (2) the United States supports the people of Venezuela in
    their efforts to realize their full economic potential and to
    advance representative democracy, human rights, and the rule of
    law within their country;
    (3) the chronic mismanagement by the Government of Venezuela
    of its economy has produced conditions of economic hardship and
    scarcity of basic goods and foodstuffs for the people of
    Venezuela;
    (4) the failure of the Government of Venezuela to guarantee
    minimal standards of public security for its citizens has led
    the country to become one of the most violent and corrupt in the
    world;
    (5) the Government of Venezuela continues to take steps to
    remove checks and balances on the executive, politicize the
    judiciary, undermine the independence of the legislature through
    use of executive decree powers, persecute and prosecute its
    political opponents, curtail freedom of the press, and limit the
    free expression of its citizens;

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    (6) Venezuelans, responding to ongoing economic hardship,
    high levels of crime and violence, and the lack of basic
    political rights and individual freedoms, have turned out in
    demonstrations in Caracas and throughout the country to protest
    the failure of the Government of Venezuela to protect the
    political and economic well-being of its citizens; and
    (7) the repeated use of violence perpetrated by the National
    Guard and security personnel of Venezuela, as well as persons
    acting on behalf of the Government of Venezuela, against
    antigovernment protesters that began on February 4, 2014, is
    intolerable and the use of unprovoked violence by protesters is
    also a matter of serious concern.
    SEC. 4. UNITED STATES POLICY TOWARD VENEZUELA.

    It is the policy of the United States--
    (1) to support the people of Venezuela in their aspiration
    to live under conditions of peace and representative democracy
    as defined by the Inter-American Democratic Charter of the
    Organization of American States;
    (2) to work in concert with the other member states within
    the Organization of American States, as well as the countries of
    the European Union, to ensure the peaceful resolution of the
    current situation in Venezuela and the immediate cessation of
    violence against antigovernment protestors;
    (3) to hold accountable government and security officials in
    Venezuela responsible for or complicit in the use of force in
    relation to antigovernment protests and similar future acts of
    violence; and
    (4) to continue to support the development of democratic
    political processes and independent civil society in Venezuela.
    SEC. 5. <> SANCTIONS ON PERSONS
    RESPONSIBLE FOR VIOLENCE IN VENEZUELA.

    (a) In General.--The President shall impose the sanctions described
    in subsection (b) with respect to any foreign person, including any
    current or former official of the Government of Venezuela or any person
    acting on behalf of that Government, that the President determines--
    (1) has perpetrated, or is responsible for ordering or
    otherwise directing, significant acts of violence or serious
    human rights abuses in Venezuela against persons associated with
    the antigovernment protests in Venezuela that began on February
    4, 2014;
    (2) has ordered or otherwise directed the arrest or
    prosecution of a person in Venezuela primarily because of the
    person's legitimate exercise of freedom of expression or
    assembly; or
    (3) has knowingly materially assisted, sponsored, or
    provided significant financial, material, or technological
    support for, or goods or services in support of, the commission
    of acts described in paragraph (1) or (2).

    (b) Sanctions Described.--
    (1) In general.--The sanctions described in this subsection
    are the following:
    (A) Asset blocking.--The exercise of all powers
    granted to the President by the International Emergency
    Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the
    extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions
    in all property and interests in property of a person
    determined by

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    the President to be subject to subsection (a) if such
    property and interests in property are in the United
    States, come within the United States, or are or come
    within the possession or control of a United States
    person.
    (B) Exclusion from the united states and revocation
    of visa or other documentation.--In the case of an alien
    determined by the President to be subject to subsection
    (a), denial of a visa to, and exclusion from the United
    States of, the alien, and revocation in accordance with
    section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
    U.S.C. 1201(i)), of any visa or other documentation of
    the alien.
    (2) Penalties.--A person that violates, attempts to violate,
    conspires to violate, or causes a violation of paragraph (1)(A)
    or any regulation, license, or order issued to carry out
    paragraph (1)(A) shall be subject to the penalties set forth in
    subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International
    Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same
    extent as a person that commits an unlawful act described in
    subsection (a) of that section.
    (3) Exception relating to importation of goods.--The
    requirement to block and prohibit all transactions in all
    property and interests in property under paragraph (1)(A) shall
    not include the authority to impose sanctions on the importation
    of goods.
    (4) Exception to comply with united nations headquarters
    agreement.--Sanctions under paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to
    an alien if admitting the alien into the United States is
    necessary to permit the United States to comply with the
    Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations,
    signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force
    November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United
    States, or other applicable international obligations.

    (c) Waiver.--The President may waive the application of sanctions
    under subsection (b) with respect to a person if the President--
    (1) determines that such a waiver is in the national
    interest of the United States; and
    (2) <> on or before the date
    on which the waiver takes effect, submits to the Committee on
    Foreign Relations and the Committee on Banking Housing, and
    Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs
    and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of
    Representatives a notice of and justification for the waiver.

    (d) Regulatory Authority.--The President shall issue such
    regulations, licenses, and orders as are necessary to carry out this
    section.
    (e) Termination.--The requirement to impose sanctions under this
    section shall terminate on December 31, 2016.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
    (1) Admitted; alien.--The terms ``admitted'' and ``alien''
    have the meanings given those terms in section 101 of the
    Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101).
    (2) Financial institution.--The term ``financial
    institution'' has the meaning given that term in section 5312 of
    title 31, United States Code.

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    (3) Foreign person.--The term ``foreign person'' means a
    person that is not a United States person.
    (4) Good.--The term ``good'' has the meaning given that term
    in section 16 of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50
    U.S.C. App. 2415) (as continued in effect pursuant to the
    International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et
    seq.)).
    (5) Knowingly.--The term ``knowingly'', with respect to
    conduct, a circumstance, or a result, means that a person has
    actual knowledge, or should have known, of the conduct, the
    circumstance, or the result.
    (6) Materially assisted.--The term ``materially assisted''
    means the provision of assistance that is significant and of a
    kind directly relevant to acts described in paragraph (1) or (2)
    of subsection (a).
    (7) United states person.--The term ``United States person''
    means--
    (A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully
    admitted for permanent residence to the United States;
    or
    (B) an entity organized under the laws of the United
    States or of any jurisdiction within the United States,
    including a foreign branch of such an entity.
    SEC. 6. <> REPORT ON
    BROADCASTING, INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION, AND
    CIRCUMVENTION TECHNOLOGY DISTRIBUTION IN
    VENEZUELA.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the
    enactment of this Act, the Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of
    Governors (in this section referred to as the ``Board'') shall submit to
    Congress a report that includes--
    (1) <> a thorough evaluation of the
    governmental, political, and technological obstacles faced by
    the people of Venezuela in their efforts to obtain accurate,
    objective, and comprehensive news and information about domestic
    and international affairs;
    (2) an assessment of current efforts relating to
    broadcasting, information distribution, and circumvention
    technology distribution in Venezuela, by the United States
    Government and otherwise; and
    (3) a strategy for expanding such efforts in Venezuela,
    including recommendations for additional measures to expand upon
    current efforts.

    (b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall include--
    (1) an assessment of the current level of Federal funding
    dedicated to broadcasting, information distribution, and
    circumvention technology distribution in Venezuela by the Board
    before the date of the enactment of this Act;
    (2) an assessment of the extent to which the current level
    and type of news and related programming and content provided by
    the Voice of America and other sources is addressing the
    informational needs of the people of Venezuela; and

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    (3) recommendations for increasing broadcasting, information
    distribution, and circumvention technology distribution in
    Venezuela.

    Approved December 18, 2014.

    LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 2142:
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    SENATE REPORTS: No. 113-175 (Comm. on Foreign Relations).
    CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 160 (2014):
    Dec. 8, considered and passed Senate.
    Dec. 10, considered and passed House.