III 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 749 

Denouncing the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold fraudulent legislative elections, the absence of acceptable conditions to ensure free, fair, and 

transparent electoral processes in Venezuela, and the further erosion 

of Venezuelan democracy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 20 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. SCOTT

of Florida, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. KAINE) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Denouncing the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold fraudulent 

legislative elections, the absence of acceptable conditions 

to ensure free, fair, and transparent electoral processes 

in Venezuela, and the further erosion of Venezuelan democracy. 

Whereas the regime of Nicola ́s Maduro is undertaking efforts 

to hold fraudulent legislative elections for Venezuela’s 

National Assembly in December 2020 that will not comply with international standards for free, fair, and transparent electoral processes; 

Whereas the Maduro regime is seeking to use fraudulent legislative elections to undermine Venezuela’s sitting democratically elected National Assembly; 


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•SRES 749 IS 

Whereas, as codified under section 112 of the VERDAD Act 

of 2019 (22 U.S.C. 9702), it is the policy of the United 

States to recognize the democratically elected National 

Assembly of Venezuela, elected in December 2015 and 

sworn in on January 2016, as the only legitimate national legislative body in Venezuela; 

Whereas the United States Government and members of the 

international community have rightly denounced the 

Maduro regime’s efforts to hold fraudulent legislative 

elections in December 2020; 

Whereas, on October 13, 2020, members of the Lima 

Group—including Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, 

Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela—issued a joint declaration on the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold legislative 

elections in December 2020 that expressed ‘‘firm rejection of the continuing of the illegitimate regime of 

Nicola ́s Maduro in holding parliamentary elections without the minimum democratic guarantees and without the 

participation of all political forces’’; 

Whereas, on September 17, 2020, the International Contact 

Group on Venezuela—whose members include Argentina, 

Costa Rica, Ecuador, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Panama, Portugal, Spain, 

Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay—issued a 

joint declaration on the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold 

legislative elections in December 2020 that stated that 

‘‘conditions are not met, at the moment, for a transparent, inclusive, free and fair electoral process’’; 

Whereas, on June 12, 2020, the Maduro regime’s illegitimate 

Supreme Court unilaterally appointed new members to 


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•SRES 749 IS 

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council without the approval of the democratically elected National Assembly; 

Whereas, throughout 2020, the Maduro regime— 

(1) sought to co-opt and undermine independent political parties through a campaign of systematic persecution; and 

(2) used its discredited Supreme Court to strip independent political parties of their leadership, including 

Voluntad Popular, Primero Justicia, and Accio ́n 

Democra ́tica; 

Whereas the Maduro regime has a demonstrated track record 

of holding fraudulent elections over the last four years; 

Whereas, on July 30, 2017, the Maduro regime manipulated 

the results for Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly by more 

than 1,000,000 votes, according to Smartmatic, the company that supplied Venezuela’s electronic voting machines; 

Whereas, in May 2018, the Maduro regime held fraudulent 

presidential elections that were broadly criticized as illegitimate, leading more than 50 countries to recognize the 

end of Nicola ́s Maduro’s term in office and the inauguration of National Assembly President Juan Guaido ́ as Interim-President of Venezuela on January 23, 2019; 

Whereas, according to the Venezuelan constitution, Juan 

Guaido ́, as President of the National Assembly, serves as 

Venezuela’s Interim President in the absence of democratically elected president of Venezuela; 

Whereas the conditions do not currently exist for the free, 

fair, and transparent election of new members of the National Assembly or the president of Venezuela; 


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•SRES 749 IS 

Whereas, as of September 7, 2020, the internationally recognized nongovernmental organization Foro Penal confirmed that, out of the 110 individuals recently released 

from prison by the Maduro regime to serve out the remainder of their sentences under house arrest, 53 were 

political prisoners, and that currently 363 political prisoners remain unjustly detained by the dictatorship without due process; 

Whereas, on September 16, 2020, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the 

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela found that Nicola ́s 

Maduro and senior members of his regime ordered and 

carried out a campaign of extrajudicial executions, forced 

disappearances, torture, and arbitrary detentions that 

amounted to systemic crimes against humanity; 

Whereas the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold fraudulent legislative elections, undermine the democratically elected National Assembly and independent political parties, and 

implement a campaign of state-sponsored violence and repression further erodes democracy and the rule of law in 

Venezuela; and 

Whereas, as codified under section 4 of the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act (Public 

Law 113–278; 128 U.S.C. 3013), it is the policy of the 

United States ‘‘to support the people of Venezuela in 

their aspiration to live under conditions of peace and representative democracy as defined by the Inter-American 

Democratic Charter of the Organization of American 

States’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 


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•SRES 749 IS 

1 (1) denounces efforts by the Maduro regime to 

2 hold fraudulent legislative elections in an effort to 

3 undermine Venezuela’s democratically elected Na4 tional Assembly; 

5 (2) joins members of the international commu6 nity, including members of the Lima Group, in 

7 rightfully rejecting the Maduro’s regime efforts to 

8 carry out fraudulent legislative elections; 

9 (3) urges that presidential and legislative elec10 tions in Venezuela be conducted at the earliest pos11 sible date according to international standards for 

12 free, fair, and transparent electoral processes, in13 cluding credible international election observation; 

14 (4) calls on the Maduro regime to cease its 

15 campaign of systematic persecution against Ven16 ezuela’s independent political parties and their lead17 ership; 

18 (5) calls on the Maduro regime to immediately 

19 release all political prisoners, facilitate access by hu20 manitarian organizations, and end its campaign of 

21 extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, tor22 ture, and arbitrary detentions of political opponents, 

23 human rights defenders, civil society activists, peace24 ful protesters, and citizens; and 


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•SRES 749 IS 

1 (6) takes note of the finding of the United Na2 tions Independent International Fact-Finding Mis3 sion on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that 

4 the Maduro regime’s campaign of state-sponsored vi5 olence and repression against the people of Ven6 ezuela amounted to crimes against humanity, and 

7 calls for Nicola ́s Maduro and senior members of his 

8 regime to be held accountable for their actions. 

Æ 


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