On Monday, President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on leaders of the Maduro regime in Venezuela for human rights abuses, but members of the Florida delegation are calling for tougher actions.
Obama issued an executive order against members of the Maduro regime on Monday based on that governments human rights record and corruption.
"The situation in Venezuela constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, Obama wrote in the order.
The Maduro regime is currently facing heavy protests as Venezuelans demand free speech and economic reform.
"Venezuelan officials past and present who violate the human rights of Venezuelan citizens and engage in acts of public corruption will not be welcome here, and we now have the tools to block their assets and their use of U.S. financial systems," noted White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Monday. "We have consistently called on the Venezuelan government to release those it has unjustly jailed as well as to improve the climate of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as the freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly."
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the chairman of the U.S. Senate Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, was one of the architects of imposing sanctions on the Maduro regime. On Monday, Rubio said he was glad to see Obama impose sanctions but added more needed to be done.
"The human rights crisis in Venezuela is getting worse every day, and these long-overdue financial sanctions are important steps to hold Nicolas Maduro's regime accountable, Rubio said. The U.S. government should expand the sanctions against more Venezuelan human rights abusers, including General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, the commandant of the Venezuelan armed forces and minister of defense. Among his offenses, General Padrino signed the recent order authorizing lethal force against peaceful demonstrators, an order which left a 14-year-old boy dead. This general should be on this list, but the administration inexplicably left him off.
Even as I welcome this round of sanctions, I question why President Obama is simultaneously moving to lift sanctions on Cuba, which has played a direct role in sowing unrest in Venezuela and has a human rights record even worse than the Maduro regime, Rubio added. Human rights violations in Venezuela stem directly from what the Cuban army and intelligence agency have taught the Chavez-Maduro regime.
The authoritarian system that Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro have imposed in Venezuela have destroyed its economy and any semblance of democratic order in the country, Rubio said in conclusion. Maduro has ruined lives through both the misery his system has inflicted, but also the lives his regime has cut short in response to demonstrations over the past year. As long as Maduro and his thugs remain in power, economic conditions and human rights will continue to worsen in Venezuela."
Rubio was joined by fellow South Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, one of the GOPs leading voices on foreign policy.
Last Congress, I led the push to get Venezuela sanctions passed and signed into law by the president, Ros-Lehtinen said on Monday. Two months ago, I wrote a letter to Secretary Kerry expressing my concern that the administration had not acted expediently to sanction the Venezuelan regime. Today, while it is long overdue, I welcome the news that the administration is finally taking a step in the right direction in announcing that Venezuelan officials in the intelligence service, national guard, public ministry, and armed services are being sanctioned.
Todays actions by the administration highlight the abuses of just seven individuals in the Maduro regime who are responsible for perpetrating some of these crimes, but much more can be done and more individuals should be sanctioned, Ros-Lehtinen added. These punitive sanctions are a step forward in our effort to hold accountable repressive regimes in our own hemisphere, but only just a small step. Maduro and his officials continue to undermine the U.S., stymie dissent by arbitrarily arresting opposition leaders, intimidate the media, and perpetrate human rights violations. I commend the Venezuelan-American community in the U.S., and especially in South Florida, that has been instrumental in advocating on behalf of the people of Venezuela and continue to stand in solidarity for their cause for justice and freedom.
Over on Obama's side of the aisle, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., also backed the sanctions.
I commend President Obama for issuing an executive order today to ensure that the United States continues to hold responsible those Venezuelan officials who intimidate and persecute their own citizens, Wasserman Schultz said on Monday. As an original co-sponsor of bipartisan legislation last year to take punitive action against Venezuelan leaders and the U.S. representative for our home town of Weston, affectionately known as 'Westonzuela, I am pleased that this executive order will build upon legislation passed by Congress last year. These officials will not be welcome in the United States and we will block their assets and ability to access the U.S. financial system.
Leaders of the Maduro regime continue to silence peaceful protestors, quash any voices of opposition and imprison political opponents, Wasserman Schultz continued. I join the administration and my colleagues in calling on the Venezuelan government to release all prisoners being held for simply exercising their rights, including Leopoldo Lopez, Daniel Ceballos, Antonio Ledezma and all other students and activists. These brave activists are being denied their fundamental democratic freedoms which are enshrined in the OAS Charter and Inter-American Democratic Charter. I join others in calling upon the Venezuelan government to engage in real, meaningful dialogue and to restore the fundamental human rights of her citizens, including the right to peacefully assemble and the right to free speech.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
