Venezuela

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit a mounting crisis in our immediate neighborhood, specifically in Venezuela.

What I saw were in fact three overlapping crises: economic, humanitarian, and political.

Hyperinflation, malnutrition, confounding refugee flows into neighboring countries, political repression, and staggering mismanagement and corruption are all endemic.

Some of you may have seen the front page of Tuesday's New York Times with the heartbreaking photo of Venezuela's indigenous Warao people who are suffering an AIDS epidemic because of the collapse of the country's healthcare system, just one of many such tragedies unfolding in a country without basic vaccinations or adequate food.

The situation and suffering are only getting worse as the government continues to deny the obvious problems or simply blames them all on other countries.

We have heard this canard before, most notably in Cuba where the regime blames the mismanagement and repression under its corrupt leadership on everyone but itself.

Also as in Cuba, the regime is cruelly detaining an innocent American--in this case Josh Holt--who by all accounts is a political hostage.

It didn't have to be this way.

Venezuela used to be a wealthy country with an imperfect but functioning democracy. It also had deep and unaddressed chasms of poverty, a gulf neglected by many ruling parties of the region that led to their ouster at the ballot box, including in the case of Hugo Chavez's initial victories.

But like so many autocrats at heart, Chavez used his position of power to dismantle the country's democracy and democratic institutions. He mismanaged the economy and allowed corruption at a scale that made a mockery of what he initially campaigned against. His successor, President Maduro, has doubled down on this approach. Political opponents are jailed or run out of the country, political opposition parties are arbitrarily banned or disqualified, and the reign of corruption on the backs of the Venezuelan people has only expanded.

Tragically, Maduro had a choice to avoid what appears to be the inevitable collapse of his once proud nation. He could have seized the opportunities offered by the Vatican and other regional powers to mediate a peaceful political path forward in Venezuela. He could have taken obvious steps to restore confidence and abide by basic democratic norms.

Sadly, his government repeatedly rejected such negotiations with the opposition and is recklessly moving ahead with a snap and discredited election on May 20; yet this election does not come close to meeting international democratic standards and will likely only plunge the country into further isolation and crisis.

When I met with Maduro and others in his regime in Caracas last month, I pointed out that Republicans and Democrats don't agree on much in Washington these days, but they do agree on Venezuela. The Trump administration is correct this week in urging a suspension of this election under such absurd conditions.

Let me give you just one example, that of leading opposition figure and former mayor of a district of Caracas Leopoldo Lopez who remains under house arrest and disqualified from competing in the upcoming election. I was able to meet with his brave wife, Lilian Tintori, in Venezuela--whose passport has been taken by the government--and speak with him by phone. We were not allowed to visit him in person.

Why was Lopez jailed, kept in solitary confinement, and now put under house arrest? Because, according to the government, he was using subliminal messages to direct protesters to act unlawfully.

That is right. One of the country's leading opposition candidates is in jail for sending ``subliminal messages.''

One of the prosecutors who led the case against Lopez later fled the country and said the trial was a farce based on false evidence and that Lopez is innocent. This tells you the nature of the outrageous political disgrace at play in Venezuela.

Senator Menendez, I, and 10 other Democrats made the same point as the Trump administration in a resolution introduced earlier this year, specifically that the results of this rushed election will not be considered legitimate if basic conditions are not met.

Let me repeat them here as they are so obvious: All political prisoners and jailed candidates, including Leopoldo Lopez, should be immediately released and free to participate in the election process; all parties should be free to peacefully participate in the election; the discredited election commission must be reformed into a credible nonpartisan body to administer the election; there must be no linking of government food to one's political participation or support of the ruling party, a particularly cruel tactic when many are suffering from severe malnutrition; local and international election monitors must be allowed, accredited, and given genuine access in the pre and actual election periods; and there must be at least 6 months to allow for a legitimate campaign under these conditions.

I believe the Venezuelan Government provided me a visa to visit because it was looking for a way out of its increasing and deserved international isolation.

Well, the path forward is actually quite clear and entirely in the Venezuelan Government's control, and it begins with running a clean and fair election as just described. Quite simply, have the courage and decency to allow the Venezuelan people the same fair and open process afforded Hugo Chavez when he first won at the ballot box. Have the courage to allow the world, including the American people, to help your people who are suffering and fleeing in desperation.

In terms of the relationship with the United States, also let Josh Holt and his Venezuelan wife come home. Don't continue down the path of a hostage-taker.

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