Venezuela Sanctions Bill Approved In House Of Representatives As Maduro Urges Obama To Heed Democratic Opponents

Days after a Senate committee on foreign relations sent a similar bill to the full floor for a vote, the House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday which would freeze assets in the US and block visas to Venezuelan officials accused of participating in abuses against opposition protestors in recent months. The bill’s principal sponsor, Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, told NBC News, "The Venezuelan people have sent us a distress signal for help. Today we answer that call by condemning the actions taken by the Maduro regime and showing our support to the people of Venezuela who are seeking liberty, freedom, human rights and justice."

But the Associated Press reports that 14 Democrats in the Senate and House wrote a letter to President Barack Obama before the House vote on Wednesday urging the president not to give in to bipartisan Congressional pressure on the topic. The Obama administration believes sanctions could undermine already dubious talks between the government and opposition in Venezuela and strain relations with regional allies. In a speech on his television program “In Contact with Maduro,” the Venezuelan president called for Obama to “listen to those … who are still sensible in the United States, rejecting the sanctions they’re seeking against Venezuelan officials."

Maduro also referred to an earlier pronouncement from UNASUR, a South American regional bloc, which rejected the potential sanctions as interference with the internal affairs of Venezuela. And shortly after the House passed the bill, leaders of Maduro’s socialist party accused the US ambassador to Colombia of participating in efforts to destabilize the country, releasing private emails addressed to opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in which the ambassador -- then the top State Department official for the whole of the Andean region -- expressed support for the opposition.