IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1202 
Denouncing the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold fraudulent legislative elec-
tions, the absence of acceptable conditions to ensure free, fair, and 
transparent electoral processes in Venezuela, and the further erosion 
of Venezuelan democracy. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 23, 2020 
Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL (for herself, Mr. ROONEY of Florida, Mr. SIRES, Ms. 
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. SHALALA, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. SOTO, Mr. 
HASTINGS, Mr. CRIST, Mr. DEUTCH, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Mrs. 
DEMINGS, Mr. WALTZ, and Ms. FRANKEL) submitted the following reso-
lution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
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 de-
mocracy. 
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 com-
ply with international standards for free, fair, and trans-
parent electoral processes; 
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•HRES 1202 IH 
Whereas the Maduro regime is seeking to use fraudulent leg-
islative elections to undermine Venezuela’s sitting demo-
cratically elected National Assembly; 
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 na-
tional 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 21, 2020, at the General Assembly of 
the Organization of American States, member states—in-
cluding The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Co-
lombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El 
Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Pan-
ama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Lucia, Uruguay, and Ven-
ezuela—joined the United States in adopting a resolution 
concerning the lack of minimum democratic conditions to 
guarantee free, fair, and transparent elections in Ven-
ezuela that rejects ‘‘interference in the functioning of po-
litical parties by the illegitimate Maduro regime’’ and 
urges the call ‘‘as promptly as possible, of free, fair, 
transparent, and legitimate presidential elections’’; 
Whereas, on October 13, 2020, members of the Lima 
Group—including Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colom-
bia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, 
Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela—issued a joint declara-
tion on the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold legislative 
elections in December 2020 that expressed ‘‘firm rejec-
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tion of the continuing of the illegitimate regime of 
Nicola´s Maduro in holding parliamentary elections with-
out 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, Ger-
many, 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 trans-
parent, inclusive, free and fair electoral process’’; 
Whereas, on June 12, 2020, the Maduro regime’s illegitimate 
Supreme Court unilaterally appointed new members to 
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council without the ap-
proval of the democratically elected National Assembly; 
Whereas, throughout 2020, the Maduro regime— 
(1) sought to coopt and undermine independent po-
litical parties through a campaign of systematic persecu-
tion; and 
(2) used its discredited Supreme Court to strip inde-
pendent 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 com-
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pany that supplied Venezuela’s electronic voting ma-
chines; 
Whereas, in May 2018, the Maduro regime held fraudulent 
presidential elections that were broadly criticized as ille-
gitimate, leading more than 50 countries to recognize the 
end of Nicola´s Maduro’s term in office and the inaugura-
tion of National Assembly President Juan Guaido´ as In-
terim-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 demo-
cratically elected president of Venezuela; 
Whereas the conditions do not currently exist for the free, 
fair, and transparent election of new members of the Na-
tional Assembly or the president of Venezuela; 
Whereas, as of September 7, 2020, the internationally recog-
nized nongovernmental organization Foro Penal con-
firmed that, out of the 110 individuals recently released 
from prison by the Maduro regime to serve out the re-
mainder of their sentences under house arrest, 53 were 
political prisoners, and that currently 363 political pris-
oners remain unjustly detained by the dictatorship with-
out due process; 
Whereas, on September 16, 2020, the United Nations Inde-
pendent 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; 
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•HRES 1202 IH 
Whereas the Maduro regime’s efforts to hold fraudulent legis-
lative elections, undermine the democratically elected Na-
tional Assembly and independent political parties, and 
implement a campaign of state-sponsored violence and re-
pression further erodes democracy and the rule of law in 
Venezuela; and 
Whereas, as codified under section 4 of the Venezuela De-
fense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 
(Public Law 113–278), it is the policy of the United 
States ‘‘to support the people of Venezuela in their aspi-
ration to live under conditions of peace and representa-
tive democracy as defined by the Inter-American Demo-
cratic Charter of the Organization of American States’’: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) denounces efforts by the Maduro regime to 
hold fraudulent legislative elections in an effort to 
undermine Venezuela’s democratically elected Na-
tional Assembly; 
(2) joins members of the international commu-
nity, including members of the Lima Group and the 
majority of member states of the Organization of 
American States, in rightfully rejecting the Maduro’s 
regime efforts to carry out fraudulent legislative 
elections; 
(3) urges that presidential and legislative elec-
tions in Venezuela be conducted at the earliest pos-
sible date according to international standards for 
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free, fair, and transparent electoral processes, in-
cluding credible international election observation; 
(4) calls on the Maduro regime to cease its 
campaign of systematic persecution against Ven-
ezuela’s independent political parties and their lead-
ership; 
(5) calls on the Maduro regime to immediately 
release all political prisoners, facilitate access by hu-
manitarian organizations, and end its campaign of 
extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, tor-
ture, and arbitrary detentions of political opponents, 
human rights defenders, civil society activists, peace-
ful protesters, and citizens; and 
(6) takes note of the finding of the United Na-
tions Independent International Fact-Finding Mis-
sion on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela that 
the Maduro regime’s campaign of state-sponsored vi-
olence and repression against the people of Ven-
ezuela amounted to crimes against humanity, and 
calls for Nicola´s Maduro and senior members of his 
regime to be held accountable for their actions. 
Æ 
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