Title: Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelans

Summary: Urging the Congress of the United States and the President of the United States to grant temporary protected status to Venezuelans in the United States, etc.

Full Text:
WHEREAS, Venezuela s economic crisis continues unabated, and the International Monetary Fund projects that inflation in Venezuela could reach an annual rate of million percent in 2019, and WHEREAS, in 2017, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported the deaths of persons in Venezuela which could be attributed to violations of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and WHEREAS, from September 2017 through April 2018, a review of pharmacies in five major cities in Venezuela showed a shortage of nearly percent of the medicines essential to treating four of the most recurrent causes of morbidity in the country, diarrhea, respiratory tract infections, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and WHEREAS, in 2016, Venezuela s Ministry of People s Power for Health reported a percent increase in the infant mortality rate and a percent increase in the maternal mortality rate, and WHEREAS, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Venezuelan intelligence and security forces have increasingly used arbitrary arrests and detentions to repress and intimidate civil society, political opponents, and voices of dissent, and WHEREAS, Zeid Ra ad Al Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated,  The failure to hold security forces accountable for such serious human rights violations suggests that the rule of law is virtually absent in Venezuela,  and WHEREAS, according to United Nations figures, three million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2014 because of violence, political oppression, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis, NOW, THEREFORE, Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: That Venezuela is in a humanitarian crisis and the Legislature of the State of Florida condemns Venezuelan President Nicol s Maduro s authoritarian steps to undermine democratic institutions and urges the Congress of the United States and the President of the United states to grant temporary protected status to Venezuelans in the United States. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State dispatch copies of this memorial to the President of the United States, to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to each member of the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.