III 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 537 

Expressing profound concern about the ongoing political, economic, social 

and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, urging the release of political 

prisoners, and calling for respect of constitutional and democratic processes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 14, 2016 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. 

NELSON, Mr. KAINE, Mr. KIRK, Mr. GARDNER, Mrs. BOXER, and Mr. 

BLUNT) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing profound concern about the ongoing political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, urging the release of political prisoners, and calling for 

respect of constitutional and democratic processes. 

Whereas the deterioration of basic governance and the economic crisis in Venezuela have reached deeply troubling 

levels, which in turn have led to an unprecedented humanitarian situation in Venezuela where millions of people are suffering from severe shortages of essential medicines and basic food products; 

Whereas Venezuela lacks more than 80 percent of the basic 

medical supplies and equipment needed to treat its popuVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Jul 15, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR537.IS SR537

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•SRES 537 IS 

lation, including medicine to treat chronic illnesses and 

cancer as well as basic antibiotics, and 85 percent of 

pharmacies are at risk of bankruptcy, according to the 

Venezuelan Pharmaceutical Federation; 

Whereas, despite the massive shortages of basic foodstuffs 

and essential medicines, President of Venezuela Nicolas 

Maduro has rejected repeated requests from the majority 

of members of the National Assembly and civil society organizations to bring humanitarian aid into the country; 

Whereas the International Monetary Fund assesses that, in 

Venezuela, inflation reached 275 percent and gross domestic product contracted 5.7 percent in 2015, and further projects that inflation will reach 720 percent and the 

gross domestic product will contract an additional 8 percent in 2016; 

Whereas Venezuela’s political, economic, and humanitarian 

crisis is fueling social tensions that are resulting in growing incidents of public unrest, looting, and violence 

among citizens; 

Whereas these social distortions are taking place amidst an 

alarming climate of violence as Caracas continues to have 

the highest per capita homicide rate in the world at 120 

per 100,000 citizens, according to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime; 

Whereas the deterioration of governance in Venezuela has 

been exacerbated by widespread public corruption and the 

involvement of public officials in illicit narcotics trafficking and related money laundering, which has led to 

indictments by the United States Department of Justice 

and ongoing investigations by the United States DepartVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:13 Jul 15, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR537.IS SR537

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•SRES 537 IS 

ment of Treasury and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration; 

Whereas domestic and international human rights groups recognize more than 85 political prisoners in Venezuela, including opposition leader and former Chacao mayor 

Leopoldo Lopez, Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni, Caracas 

Mayor Antonio Ledezma, former Zulia governor Manuel 

Rosales, and former San Cristobal mayor Daniel 

Ceballos; 

Whereas, in December 2015, the people of Venezuela elected 

the opposition coalition (Mesa de Unidad Democra ́tica) to 

a two-thirds majority in the unicameral National Assembly, with 112 out of the 167 seats compared with 55 

seats for the government’s Partido Socialista Unido de 

Venezuela party; 

Whereas, in late December 2015, the outgoing National Assembly increased the number of seats in the Supreme 

Court of Venezuela and confirmed magistrates politically 

aligned with the Maduro Administration and, thereafter, 

the expanded Supreme Court has blocked 4 legislators, 

including 3 opposition legislators, from taking office; 

Whereas, during the first 6 months of the new legislature, 

the Supreme Court has repeatedly issued politically motivated judgments to overturn legislation passed by the 

democratically elected National Assembly and block internal legislative procedures; 

Whereas, in 2016, President Maduro has utilized emergency 

and legislative decree powers to bypass the National Assembly, which, alongside the actions of the Supreme 

Court, have severely undermined the principles of separation of powers in Venezuela; 


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•SRES 537 IS 

Whereas, in May 2016, Organization of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro presented a 132-page report 

outlining grave alterations of the democratic order in 

Venezuela and invoked Article 20 of the Inter-American 

Democratic Charter, which calls on the OAS Permanent 

Council ‘‘to undertake a collective assessment of the situation’’; 

Whereas, in June 2016, at a joint press conference with 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and President 

Enrique Pen ̃a Nieto of Mexico, President Barack Obama 

stated, ‘‘Given the very serious situation in Venezuela 

and the worsening plight of the Venezuelan people, together we’re calling on the government and opposition to 

engage in meaningful dialogue and urge the Venezuelan 

government to respect the rule of law and the authority 

of the National Assembly.’’; and 

Whereas, at the joint press conference with Prime Minister 

Justin Trudeau and President Pen ̃a Nieto, President 

Barack Obama continued, ‘‘Political prisoners should be 

released. The democratic process should be respected and 

that includes legitimate efforts to pursue a recall referendum consistent with Venezuelan law.’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) expresses its profound concern about wide3 spread shortages of essential medicines and basic 

4 food products faced by the people of Venezuela, and 

5 urges President Maduro to permit the delivery of 

6 humanitarian assistance; 


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•SRES 537 IS 

1 (2) calls on the Government of Venezuela to im2 mediately release all political prisoners, to provide 

3 protections for freedom of expression and assembly, 

4 and to respect internationally recognized human 

5 rights; 

6 (3) supports meaningful efforts towards a dia7 logue that leads to respect for Venezuela’s constitu8 tional mechanisms and resolves the country’s polit9 ical, economic, social, and humanitarian crisis; 

10 (4) affirms its support for OAS Secretary Gen11 eral Almagro’s invocation of Article 20 of the Inter12 American Democratic Charter and urges the OAS 

13 Permanent Council, which represents all of the orga14 nization’s member states, to undertake a collective 

15 assessment of the constitutional and democratic 

16 order in Venezuela; 

17 (5) expresses its great concern over the Ven18 ezuelan executive’s lack of respect for the principle 

19 of separation of powers, its overreliance on emer20 gency decree powers, and its subjugation of judicial 

21 independence; 

22 (6) calls on the Government of Venezuela and 

23 security forces to respect the Constitution of Ven24 ezuela, including constitutional provisions that pro25 vide Venezuelan citizens with the right to peacefully 


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1 pursue a fair and timely recall referendum for their 

2 president this year if they so choose; 

3 (7) stresses the urgency of strengthening the 

4 rule of law and increasing efforts to combat impu5 nity and public corruption in Venezuela, which has 

6 bankrupted a resource-rich country, fuels rising so7 cial tensions, and contributes to elevated levels of 

8 crime and violence; and 

9 (8) urges the President of the United States to 

10 provide full support for OAS efforts in favor of con11 stitutional and democratic solutions to the political 

12 impasse, and to instruct appropriate Federal agen13 cies to hold officials of the Government of Venezuela 

14 accountable for violations of United States law and 

15 abuses of internationally recognized human rights. 

Æ 


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