Durbin, Kaine, Cassidy Meet With Five Latin American Democracies' Ambassadors To Discuss The Current Electoral Crisis In Venezuela
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) along with U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today met with Brazilian Ambassador to the U.S., Maria Luiza Ribiero Viotti; Chilean Ambassador to the U.S., Juan Gabriel Valdés; Colombian Ambassador to the U.S., Daniel García-Peña Jaramillo; Guatemalan Ambassador to the U.S., Hugo Beteta; and Panamanian Ambassador the U.S., José Miguel Alemán, to discuss the current electoral crisis in Venezuela. Following the July 28 election, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro falsely claimed victory, despite refusing to release actual ballot data and detailed election observer data that showed a clear and overwhelming victory for opposition candidate Edmundo González.
“Ten million Venezuelans peacefully voted, and results meticulously documented by credible monitors showed an overwhelming win for Mr. González. Despite this sweeping and clear opposition victory, the Maduro regime has refused to release results, announced that it had won instead, and arbitrarily arrested thousands of opposition supporters,” said Durbin. “During today’s meeting with these key Latin American democratic nations and neighbors of Venezuela, we discussed the need to stand firm against Maduro. We cannot let him steal another election and create more suffering and autocracy in Latin America.”
“Despite overwhelming evidence that Edmundo González Urrutia won the July 28 presidential election in Venezuela, Maduro and his regime refuse to acknowledge the will of the Venezuelan people. The regime’s actions are making the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela worse and exacerbating migration in our hemisphere,” said Kaine, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. “That’s why I met with my Senate colleagues and the ambassadors of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, and Panama today to discuss how we can work together to counter Maduro’s fraudulent claims and support a peaceful transfer of power in Venezuela. I will continue working with the Biden-Harris Administration, my colleagues in Congress, and our partners in the region on a path forward.”
“A month and a half after the fraudulent election in Venezuela, the Maduro regime refuses to accept that they lost. They have imprisoned 2,500 people and forced President-Elect Edmundo Gonzalez into exile,” said Cassidy. “The goal is to restore democracy to Venezuela and give the help needed to do so. I had a productive conversation with ambassadors from the region to that end.”
Photos of the meeting are available here.
Last week, Durbin introduced a bill terminating all U.S. petroleum cooperation and petroleum-related trade with Venezuela until the legitimate results of the recent Venezuelan election are respected. Durbin filed the bill as an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill.
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