The Venezuelan crisis is one of the few issues (if not the only one these days) around which bipartisan consensus policies have been expressed. Barack Obama’s administration initiated executive orders to impose sanctions on individual actors of the Venezuelan regime that violated Human Rights, based on the Law that carries the names of senators Menéndez (D-NJ) and Rubio (R-FL). Since then, sanctions have scaled under the current administration in response to the scaling repression, a different context within the OAS, and a humanitarian crisis, which causes an exodus of Venezuelan migrants.
The two most recent legislative proposals to address the Venezuelan crisis also have bipartisan support, although they are mainly the result of hard work from Democrat congress members. First, the VERDAD law, written by Senator Menéndez and supported by Senator Rubio, codifies sanctions and deepens the humanitarian crisis measures, so that the international pressure leads to credible, free, and fair elections. The other proposal, which would grant Venezuelans TPS in the face of Trump’s refusal, was authored by Congressman Darren Soto (D-FL) and was approved in the House of Representatives by a simple majority vote, including the support of a minority group of Republican legislators. Nonetheless, the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has so far stalled both laws.
This summer, at the Democratic National Committee convention in San Francisco, attentive to both the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on the situation of Human Rights in Venezuela and the figures that indicate that more than 4 million Venezuelans have emigrated, the DNC unanimously passed the “Resolution to Strongly Support Efforts for the Return of Democracy to Venezuela and Assist Venezuelan Migrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS).”
The resolution resolved to support four Democratic efforts and priorities already underway:
1. The work and legislative initiatives of the Democratic leadership in Congress, to pressure the Maduro regime and work closely with U.S. partners in the hemisphere to facilitate a transition to democracy through free and fair elections monitored by the international community.
2. The cooperation and aid to assist in alleviating the humanitarian crisis existing in both Venezuela and neighboring countries impacted by massive migration.
3. The efforts of the Democratic congressional leadership to designate Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to, therefore, protect Venezuelan nationals who migrated to the U.S. given the humanitarian crisis.
4. The work of the Democratic leadership in the Florida House and Senate to support the Venezuelan migrant community and stop their detention and deportations throughout the state, as well as from other countries where large groups of Venezuelan migrants are living.
The approval of the TPS is linked to the recognition of the humanitarian crisis, the grave human rights violations reported by High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, and implicitly adds to the characterization of the oppressive Venezuelan regime, reinforcing international pressure to achieve democratic change in Venezuela. Meanwhile, the 150,000 Venezuelans who are in the United States waiting for asylum or with a vulnerable immigration status will be able to continue their lives without fear of being deported, work, and even financially support their family members still in Venezuela. Unfortunately, the support of some Republicans such as Senator Rubio and Congressman Díaz-Balart has not been enough to count on support from President Trump or Senator Mitch McConnell.
Meanwhile, On September 12, ten candidates for the Democratic presidential primaries gathered in Houston, Texas, for their third debate.
Throughout the debate, Jorge Ramos asked the candidates questions that specifically interest the Latinx and Hispanic audiences. One, very important and of particular interest for the mission of IQ Latino, was on US-Latin American foreign policy.
Ramos first address Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), whose position on Venezuela had been said to be ambiguous. Sanders responded by both recognizing that the last presidential elections in Venezuela were not free and calling Maduro a ‘tyrant.’ He also proposed regional and international cooperation to promote honest elections with international observation in Venezuela, so Venezuelans can be the ones to decide their future. Julián Castro, the only Latino on stage, asked for a follow-up, and proposed applying the TPS for Venezuela in the U.S.
The questions on Latin America concluded there, but the former Vice President Biden took time out of another question to express his support for the Venezuelan community and his TPS for Venezuela proposal to even allow Venezuelans to migrate to the U.S. Vice President Biden showed he understands how to handle the Venezuelan crisis strategically and intelligently since he knows the regional players and has confronted Maduro face to face. Later that week, on September 15 at a busy event in Miami to begin the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration where dozens of Venezuelans in exile attended, Biden reiterated his commitment to the guidelines outlined in the Democratic Party Resolution to recover democracy in Venezuela and extend the TPS for Venezuelans.
Though there is a broad consensus around the need to promote a change of leadership in Venezuela, there is an essential difference between the Democrats and President Trump. Trump says he wants to help Venezuelans but does not answer to the needs of the Venezuelan community in the U.S., who want TPS for fellow migrants who have arrived in our country fleeing oppression and humanitarian crisis.
Para español lea Al Navío “Venezuela es prioritaria en la agenda del Partido Demócrata de EEUU”