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[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 213 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 213

Expressing support for the free and peaceful exercise of representative 
 democracy in Venezuela, condemning violence and intimidation against 
 the country's political opposition, and calling for dialogue between 
                  all political actors in the country.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2013

Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Udall 
   of New Mexico, Mr. McCain, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Graham, and Mr. Durbin) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

                           September 30, 2013

  Reported by Mr. Menendez, with an amendment and an amendment to the 
                 preamble and an amendment to the title
[Strike out all after the resolving clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
      [Strike the preamble and insert the part printed in italic]

                            October 4, 2013

  Considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended preamble and an 
                         amendment to the title

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Expressing support for the free and peaceful exercise of representative 
 democracy in Venezuela, condemning violence and intimidation against 
 the country's political opposition, and calling for dialogue between 
                  all political actors in the country.

Whereas the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela guarantees its 
        citizens full political rights, including the right to freely associate 
        for democratic political purposes, and the right to a secret ballot 
        through regular free, universal, direct elections and referenda;
Whereas the Preamble of the Charter of the Organization of American States 
        affirms that ``representative democracy is an indispensable condition 
        for the stability, peace and development of the region,'' and Article 1 
        of the Inter-American Democratic Charter recognizes that ``the people of 
        the Americas have a right to democracy and their governments have an 
        obligation to promote and defend it'';
Whereas the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela declared Nicolas 
        Maduro to have been elected in Venezuela's April 14, 2013, presidential 
        election, with 50.6 percent of votes cast;
Whereas the Senate of the Republic of Chile, the Christian Democratic 
        Organization of the Americas, the Socialist International, the Union of 
        Latin American parties, and other political organizations in the region 
        issued declarations recognizing the alleged irregularities documented by 
        the opposition in Venezuela and urged a complete audit of the election 
        results;
Whereas the Supreme Court of Venezuela refused to hear legal cases presented by 
        the political opposition regarding alleged violations of electoral law, 
        and the CNE denied the opposition's request for a full and comprehensive 
        audit of the election results that includes the review and comparison of 
        voter registry log books, vote tallies produced by electronic voting 
        machines, and the paper receipts printed by electronic voting machines;
Whereas Venezuela's Unified Democratic Platform (MUD) has formally requested the 
        Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to conduct an impartial review 
        of alleged violations of Venezuelans' civic rights through electoral 
        irregularities, voter intimidation, and other abuses in the April 2013 
        elections, and the Government of Venezuela subsequently announced its 
        withdrawal from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights;
Whereas in response to the political opposition's decision not to recognize 
        Nicolas Maduro as President, legislators from opposition parties in 
        Venezuela were denied the right to speak and removed from key committees 
        by the President of the National Assembly, were violently assaulted by 
        members of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), and 
        increasingly face the prospect of politically-motivated criminal 
        charges;
Whereas the Congress of the Republic of Peru passed a resolution rejecting the 
        use of violence against opposition parties in the Venezuelan National 
        Assembly and expressing solidarity with those injured by the events of 
        April 2013, and the Department of State responded to the violence 
        against opposition legislators in Venezuela by declaring that ``violence 
        has no place in a representative and democratic system, and is 
        particularly inappropriate in the National Assembly'';
Whereas the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) 
        repudiated the incident by stating that it ``reflects, in a dramatic 
        manner, the absence of a political dialogue that can bring tranquility 
        to the citizens and to the members of the different public powers to 
        resolve in a peaceful climate and with everybody's participation the 
        pending matters of the country''; and
Whereas as a member of the Organization of American States and signatory to the 
        Inter-American Democratic Charter, the Bolivarian Government of 
        Venezuela has agreed to abide by the principles of constitutional, 
        representative democracy, which include free and fair elections and 
        adherence to its own constitution: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) supports the people of Venezuela in their pursuit of 
        the free exercise of representative democracy as guaranteed by 
        the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela;
            (2) deplores the undemocratic denial of the legitimate 
        rights of opposition parliamentarians in Venezuela, the 
        inexcusable violence perpetrated against opposition legislators 
        inside chambers of the National Assembly, and the growing 
        efforts to use politically-motivated criminal charges to 
        intimidate the country's political opposition;
            (3) commends legislators from other countries in the 
        Americas who have declared their opposition to alleged 
        electoral irregularities and condemned the use of violence 
        against opposition parliamentarians in Venezuela;
            (4) urges the Department of State to work in concert with 
        other countries in the Americas to take meaningful steps to 
        ensure the rule of law in Venezuela in accordance with the 
        Inter-American Democratic Charter and to strengthen the ability 
        of the Organization of American States to respond to the 
        erosion of democratic norms and institutions in member states; 
        and
            (5) calls for the United States to work with other 
        countries in the hemisphere to actively encourage a process of 
        dialogue between the Government of Venezuela and the political 
        opposition through the good offices of the Organization of 
        American States so that the voices of all Venezuelans can be 
        taken into account through their country's constitutional 
        institutions and free and fair elections.
                                 <all>
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