Venezuela

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last year, I made a visit to Caracas, Venezuela. It was a surprise that they even offered me a visa to journey to that country. In the course of several days, I saw firsthand what life in Venezuela was like. It was terrible from every aspect-- malnutrition, children fainting in schools, hospitals without the basic medicines, the return of diseases which had been eradicated decades before, people on the street emaciated and working day in and day out in a runaway inflation country. At 11:30 at night, there were queues by ATM machines where people stood patiently in line for hours to make the maximum withdrawal from their savings account, which was the money they needed the next day to take the bus to work. It is a terrible situation.

In the course of that visit, I met with President Maduro and talked to him directly about his plans to schedule an election. It was clear to me this election was rigged. He had intimidated and even jailed his opponents to make certain that there would be no serious opposition, and I told him there would be no credibility in that election. It wouldn't be accepted by countries around the world that he was the legitimate leader of that country. Yet he persisted and went through with the election.

During the time that I was there, I had a chance to meet with some of his political opponents. His tactics against these opponents were harsh. Leopoldo Lopez, a popular opponent, was put under house arrest for years. I spoke to him on the telephone and met personally with his wife, who described the bleak existence he had day to day in the same house under house arrest by Maduro.

One evening, we had dinner with opposition members of the National Assembly, and it was held at a secret location, upstairs in a darkened room, because of their fear of retribution by Maduro and his regime.

These are some pretty brave young men and women who are part of the opposition to Maduro. I can recall one of them saying to me: If you come back next year, out of the five of us, two will have been deported, two will be missing, and one of us will be dead. That is what happens when you oppose the Maduro regime.

One of those people who were at that dinner meeting with me was named Juan Guaido. His name became prominent just a few months ago when he stepped up in an extraordinary show of political courage and declared himself, under the original Constitution, as the leader of Venezuela-- directly confronting Maduro and his regime. Since then, he has received a lot of publicity. He went to the border with Colombia and tried to encourage the Maduro regime to allow transports of food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs into the country. Maduro refused.

He also made it clear that he was willing to risk his life. I met here in Washington with his young wife, who had a little baby girl. His wife had come to the United States to plead his case in the Halls of Congress. She knew the danger her husband faced. Yet she understood that he was willing to risk that for the future of Venezuela.

Juan Guaido's effort to become the leader of that country has been recognized now and acknowledged by leaders of countries around the world. The Organization of American States--the largest organization of Central and South American countries-- acknowledged in a formal vote that Juan Guaido would be the leader of Venezuela by their calculation. They didn't accept the Maduro election any more than I did.

In the last several months, there has been increasing tension and concern as members of Guaido's following were jailed by the Maduro regime and concern that Guaido himself may be in danger because of this ongoing situation.

Early this morning, I received a phone call from Ambassador John Bolton, who works with the President in the White House. He knew of my interest in Venezuela, and he wanted to alert me that today was a day that could be historic, a day of reckoning. Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez, who had been under house arrest, were both appealing directly to the military leaders in Venezuela, asking those leaders to join their effort to establish a legitimate government in Venezuela and to have a free and fair election. We didn't know what was in store. There were no predictions as to who would prevail in this, and there was a great deal of danger associated with Guaido's position. Lopez, coming out of house arrest, is risking his own life in the process. We didn't know what Maduro's response would be.

In the last several weeks, there have been groups that have come to the aid and support of the Maduro regime. They include some Cuban security forces, as well as colectivos and motorcycle gangs that support the Maduro regime, but most notably the arrival of several hundred Russian military into Caracas. This, of course, complicates the situation. There are rumors in the press. We don't know which to believe and which not to believe, but at this point, there is at least a question as to whether Maduro was prepared to leave and was discouraged by the Russians and told to stay. I hope he does leave.

I hope Venezuela can turn the corner. I hope the people of that country who are leaving Venezuela by the millions to go to countries like Colombia have an opportunity to see a new life in their country and to move forward.

I have supported the efforts of the Trump administration against the Maduro regime in Venezuela with an understanding that they want to move forward with regime change in that country without the involvement of U.S. military force. I think it would be a mistake if we did that, to put in U.S. military force. We are in a situation where the history of that region is well known. There has been a lot of tension and a lot of difficulty in the past, and I hope we do not consider that military possibility. I certainly support their efforts and applaud their success in bringing the Organization of American States and other countries to the side of Juan Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez.

I urge Maduro to do the right thing for Venezuela--to avoid bloodshed, to accept Guaido's amnesty offer, and to step out of the way of a long-overdue transition and return to democracy.

Until then, I support President Guaido's peaceful effort to advance the constitutional transition period in which a credible and timely election can be prepared under his leadership. Mr. Guaido is literally putting his life on the line for the future of his country. The Russians and Cubans in Caracas who attempt to prop up Mr. Maduro must step back and let the Venezuelan people decide their own fate in an open and free election.

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