A bipartisan panel of the U.S. Senate applauded a recent move by the White House to sanction the Venezuelans cracking down on protesters in that country, but they said much more could be done.
Members of a subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said in a Tuesday hearing that the action last week to apply sanctions on seven Venezuelan officials – including the heads of military intelligence and the police – was promising. Still, they urged more names be added to the sanctions list, and said the U.S. should do a better job explaining to Latin American countries why the move was necessary.
The executive order freezes the assets of officials implicated in the crack-down on protests last year that left more than 40 people dead on both sides and sparked the jailing of prominent opposition figures.
Led by Republican Marco Rubio of Florida, as well as Democrats Barbara Boxer of California and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, senators cheered the move but questioned whether it went far enough and whether it was executed properly.
“In my view we can go further, but this is an important first step,” Menendez said.
Rubio, who is from West Miami and is the chairman of the subcommittee that deals with Western Hemisphere issues, ticked off a litany of anti-democratic actions taken by the government of Nicolas Maduro. And he said the country is crumbling, despite its natural riches.
“It is the incompetence of Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez that has left Venezuela in the position it finds itself in,” Rubio said. “But instead of seeking out reforms to improve conditions, the response of the Maduro regime has been to crack down on dissent, erode democracy and violently violate the human rights of their own people.”
Rubio and others grilled Obama administration officials on conditions in Venezuela. And given all that has transpired, Rubio asked a simple question: Is Venezuela still a democracy?
“There is more to democracy than just holding an election,” he said, listing various ways that dissent and democratic actions can be squelched. “This is the new way tyrants are now operating.”
Rubio and Menendez played a vital role in pushing legislation last year that urged the kind of sanctions action the White House took last week. The legislation passed easily in December.
A State Department official, Alex Lee, emphasized that the United States maintained diplomatic relations with Venezuela and that the sanctions were not intended to hurt the Venezuelan people.
“The executive order does not – repeat – does not target the people or the economy of Venezuela,” Lee said. “I want to be clear: It is not our policy or intent to promote instability in Venezuela… The United States is not seeking the downfall of the Venezuelan government, nor trying to sabotage the Venezuelan economy.”
But, he also said, the U.S. will not shy away from criticizing the Maduro regime. “Venezuela’s problems cannot be solved by criminalizing legitimate democratic dissent,” he said. “These actions appear to be a clear attempt by the Venezuelan government to divert attention from that country’s economic and political problems.”
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