On Monday, in a bipartisan move, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that would ban contracts with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL). President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for national security advisor, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) introduced the bill.
“The BOLIVAR Act compliments existing sanctions by prohibiting the U.S. government from contracting with any person that has business operations with the illegitimate government of Nicolas Maduro, as well as any successor government of Venezuela not recognized as legitimate by the United States,” Waltz noted.
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“Venezuela is in crisis due to the illegitimate, authoritarian rule and the Marxist policies of Nicolas Maduro and his Caracas cartel,” Waltz stated. “Maduro and his cronies have mocked and ignored the electoral will of the Venezuelan people, inciting violent action against the democratic opposition. Our policy must be based on solidarity with the brave activists that strive to break the shackles of oppression and not provide aid and comfort to their oppressors. We must maintain existing sanctions against the regime and seek to expand sanctions to minimize Maduro’s resources to abuse the freedoms and prosperity of the Venezuelan people. This legislation sends a clear and powerful message to Maduro, as well as other dictators around the world, that there will be no appeasement, there will be no tolerance, there will be no reward for their rogue, illegal actions. … I urge the Senate to quickly pass this important bill and send it to the President’s desk for his signature.”
In September, Maduro ordered the arrest of presidential opponent Edmundo González Urrutia on grounds he had claimed that Maduro stole the election. Prosecutors charged him with “‘usurpation’ of public functions, ‘forgery’ of a public document, incitement to disobedience, sabotage, and ‘association’ with organized crime and financiers of ‘terrorism,’” according to AFP.
“The head of an executive agency may not enter into a contract for the procurement of goods or services with any person that the head of an executive agency determines, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, knowingly engages in significant business operations with an authority of the Government of Venezuela that is not recognized as the legitimate Government of Venezuela by the United States,” H.R. 25 states.
