Venezuela Sanctions Approved By Senate Panel To Come To Floor Vote

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 13-2 on Tuesday in favor of a bill which would impose sanctions on Venezuelan officials accused of violence or human rights violations against anti-government protestors. In addition to suspending visas and freezing assets in the US, the bill sets aside $15 million in funding for pro-democracy and independent media groups in Venezuela, according to AFP. The bill now goes to the floor for consideration by the whole of the Senate. At least 42 people have died, 800 injured and almost 200 remain in detention in connection with opposition protests which erupted in mid-February.

Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro called possible sanctions “despicable” after the bill passed the committee and asked a coalition of opposition lawmakers with whom his government has held talks to join him in rejecting the sanctions. “It’s a despicable event, because no one can stick their nose into our country’s business,” he said. “This Congress or some of its senators and representatives don’t have to come get involved in the affairs of Venezuela.”

The push for sanctions began back in February, not long after protests turned violent. Two Cuban-American senators, Marco Rubio of Florida and Committee chairman Bob Menendez of New Jersey, have spearheaded the push. Menendez told the AFP after the vote that the bill sends “a very clear message” to those responsible for abuses against protestors that they “will face consequences if they continue violating the human rights of these Venezuelan students who are peacefully protesting for the betterment of their nation and their families.”

In fact, student protestors have made up a limited but fierce and crucially symbolic portion of protestors’ ranks, and student leaders have not been among the opposition leaders at the negotiating table with the government. But an investigation by Human Rights Watch published in early May turned up “strong evidence of serious human rights violations committed by Venezuelan security forces” in some 45 cases involving over 150 victims, with the group adding that many top officials in the judiciary and attorney general’s office either knew about or were directly involved in abuses.