H. Res. 259 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
December 7, 2017. 
Whereas in Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro controls the 
Presidency, a majority of the municipalities, the Supreme 
Court, the military leadership, and the leadership of 
Petro´leos de Venezuela (PDVSA), and has gutted the 
National Assembly of the power it constitutionally holds; 
Whereas in late October 2016, Venezuela’s state courts and 
National Electoral Council, which are comprised of polit-
ical allies of President Maduro, halted efforts to hold a 
referendum pursuant to provisions of the Venezuelan con-
stitution to recall President Maduro, thereby denying the 
Venezuelan people the ability to pursue a democratic so-
lution to Venezuela’s crisis; 
Whereas Venezuela’s National Electoral Council postponed 
elections for governors and mayors scheduled for Decem-
ber 2016 and has not set a date to reschedule these elec-
tions; 
Whereas there have been several attempts at dialogue be-
tween President Maduro and the opposition over the past 
year, which have all failed to yield tangible results; 
Whereas the Government of Venezuela continues to silence its 
citizens through political arrests, with more than 444 po-
litical prisoners currently in jail;
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Whereas Joshua Holt, a United States citizen, remains im-
prisoned in Venezuela with no due process, and four post-
poned hearings to date; 
Whereas in its 2016 report, Venezuela’s Violence Observatory 
assessed a widespread use of firearms by criminals and 
increased use of violence by police and military officials, 
contributing to a homicide rate of 91.8 per 100,000 resi-
dents, making Venezuela one of the most violent coun-
tries in the world; 
Whereas police and military raids have led to widespread alle-
gations of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial 
killings, mass arbitrary detentions, torture, forced evic-
tions, and arbitrary deportations; 
Whereas Venezuela is immersed in a deep economic crisis, 
with shortages of basic food supplies and medicines, and 
inflation estimated to top roughly 1,600 percent in 2017, 
according to the International Monetary Fund; 
Whereas the Venezuelan military controls the production and 
distribution of basic food supplies, which has enabled cor-
ruption, fraud, and food trafficking, and exacerbated 
shortages throughout the country; 
Whereas deteriorating conditions in health care persist, with 
the World Health Organization estimating that there are 
shortages of 75 percent of necessary medications and 
medical supplies, up from 55 percent in 2014 and 67 per-
cent in 2015; 
Whereas a recent survey – conducted jointly by the Central 
University of Venezuela, the Andre´s Bello Catholic Uni-
versity and the Simo´n Bolivar University – found that al-
most 75 percent of Venezuelans lost an average of at
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least 19 pounds in 2016 as a result of a lack of proper 
nutrition amidst the country’s economic crisis; 
Whereas the country is facing increasing outbreaks of pre-
viously eradicated diseases, such as malaria and diph-
theria; 
Whereas the Health Ministry in Venezuela published an epi-
demiological bulletin in May 2017 (the first since 2015), 
showing a 30 percent increase in infant mortality, a 66 
percent rise in maternal mortality, and a 76 percent in-
crease in malaria cases; 
Whereas the deteriorating conditions in Venezuela have 
prompted tens of thousands of Venezuelans to flee to 
countries throughout the Western Hemisphere, including 
Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru´, and the 
United States, which threatens a wider refugee crisis in 
the region; 
Whereas there were 18,000 asylum requests from Ven-
ezuelans seeking to enter the United States in 2016, 
which according to United States Citizenship and Immi-
gration Services was the highest number of requests 
made by any nationality last year; 
Whereas the Government of Venezuela has regulated and re-
duced the number of local and international media outlets 
with opposing views, including CNN en Espan˜ol following 
its broadcast of a report alleging that Vice President 
Tareck El Aissami was directly linked to a ring of fraud-
ulent Venezuelan passports provided to foreigners includ-
ing known members of the terrorist organization 
Hezbollah; 
Whereas, on February 13, 2017, the Department of the 
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated
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Venezuela’s Vice President Tareck Zaidan El Aissami 
Maddah as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker 
pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation 
Act for playing a significant role in international nar-
cotics trafficking, and imposed sanctions on Mr. El 
Aissami and froze his assets in the United States; 
Whereas, on March 23, 2017, fourteen Member States of the 
Organization of American States (OAS) published a joint 
statement calling for the Government of Venezuela to 
hold elections, restore the constitutional powers of the 
National Assembly, and release political prisoners; 
Whereas, on March 28, 2017, the OAS Permanent Council 
agreed by a vote of 20 in favor, 11 against, 2 absten-
tions, and 1 absent/nonvoting Member States to move 
forward in discussing the situation in Venezuela; 
Whereas, on March 28, 2017, the Supreme Court of Ven-
ezuela stripped opposition leaders of the National Assem-
bly of their parliamentary immunity and began to take 
steps to consider prosecuting them for treason; 
Whereas, on March 29, 2017, the Venezuelan Supreme Court 
seized power from the democratically elected National As-
sembly and nullified the legislative branch’s ability to 
function; 
Whereas, on March 31, 2017, in the first major break of a 
sitting Venezuelan public official, Venezuelan Attorney 
General Luisa Ortega Dı´az affirmed the Supreme Court’s 
actions ‘‘had broken constitutional order’’; 
Whereas, on March 31, 2017, Venezuelan citizens took to the 
streets protesting the Supreme Court’s breach of power; 
Whereas, on April 1, 2017, the Supreme Court reversed its 
earlier decisions taking over the National Assembly’s leg-
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islative powers and stripping the legislators of their par-
liamentary immunity; 
Whereas, on April 26, 2017, the Government of Venezuela 
announced its intent to withdraw from the OAS; 
Whereas on May 1, 2017, President Maduro announced a na-
tional vote to create a Constituent Assembly to rewrite 
the Venezuelan Constitution of 1999, which OAS Sec-
retary General Luis Almagro stated (in testimony before 
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate on 
July 19, 2017) was ‘‘imposed by decree without the peo-
ple and against the people, setting the will of the dicta-
torship above the popular will expressed through uni-
versal and direct vote’’; 
Whereas, on May 2, 2017, the Department of State stated, 
‘‘We have deep concerns about the motivation for this 
constituent assembly, which overrides the will of the Ven-
ezuelan people and further erodes Venezuelan democ-
racy’’; 
Whereas peaceful protests by Venezuelan citizens since March 
of 2017 have been met with violence from Venezuelan au-
thorities that has caused 100 deaths; 
Whereas, on May 17, 2017, the United Nations Security 
Council met to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Ven-
ezuela; 
Whereas, on May 18, 2017, the Department of the Treasury 
announced United States sanctions against eight Ven-
ezuelan Government officials, all members of Venezuela’s 
Supreme Court, pursuant to Executive Order No. 13692, 
for their responsibility in issuing a number of rulings 
that ‘‘interfere with or limit the National Assembly’s au-
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thority’’ and that ‘‘limit the ability of the National As-
sembly to conduct its constitutional duties’’; 
Whereas, on May 23, 2017, President Maduro signed a docu-
ment formally establishing the terms for electing mem-
bers of a Constituent Assembly, presenting the proposed 
body as a way to rewrite the Constitution; 
Whereas, on June 2, 2017, President Maduro pledged to hold 
a referendum on the proposed new constitution; 
Whereas, on June 20, 2017, the OAS General Assembly 
meeting was held in Cancu´n, Mexico, where a resolution 
regarding the precarious situation in Venezuela failed to 
gain the votes needed for passage; 
Whereas Venezuela’s Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz is 
being legally pursued for defying President Maduro, with 
the Supreme Court banning her from leaving the country 
and freezing her assets; 
Whereas, on July 8, 2017, opposition leader Leopoldo Lo´pez 
was released from prison but remains under house arrest; 
Whereas, on July 16, 2017, more than seven million people 
cast votes in a popular consultation to reject the Con-
stituent Assembly; 
Whereas, on July 19, 2017, Secretary General of the OAS, 
Luis Almagro, issued a third report on the crisis in Ven-
ezuela which documented the violations of the constitu-
tion and systemic violations of human rights by the Gov-
ernment of Venezuela and calling for the immediate sus-
pension of the Constituent Assembly, the cessation of vio-
lent repression, the opening of a channel for humani-
tarian assistance, and the release of political prisoners; 
Whereas, on July 20, 2017, the government-controlled Ven-
ezuelan Supreme Court annulled the process of the ap-
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pointment of judges by the opposition-controlled National 
Assembly; 
Whereas, on July 30, 2017, the Government of Venezuela 
convened the Constitutent Assembly, which, on August 
18, 2017, assumed lawmaking powers to supersede Ven-
ezuela’s legitimate National Assembly; and 
Whereas the Constituent Assembly voted to remove Luisa Or-
tega Diaz from her position of Attorney General on Au-
gust 5, 2017, and to replace her with Tarek William 
Saab, who was sanctioned by the United States Depart-
ment of the Treasury on July 26, 2017, along with 12 
other current and former senior officials of the Govern-
ment of Venezuela: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) urges the Government of Venezuela to heed the 
calls of the international community without delay to 
hold free, fair, and open elections, release all political 
prisoners, including United States citizens, respect the 
constitutional rights of the National Assembly, and open 
a channel for international humanitarian assistance and 
medicines; 
(2) urges Organization of American States (OAS) 
Member States to continue all efforts to support the 
principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, re-
gardless of Venezuela’s intent to withdraw from the 
OAS, and continue calls for the Government of Ven-
ezuela to hold free and fair elections and release all po-
litical prisoners in a timely manner;
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(3) recognizes the strong leadership of OAS Sec-
retary General Luis Almagro in building a coalition of 
OAS Member States in support of democracy and 
human rights for the Venezuelan people; and 
(4) encourages the President of the United States 
to prioritize a resolution to the political, economic, social, 
and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and an effective 
response to the growing regional refugee crisis that is 
emanating from Venezuela, through multilateral coopera-
tion with partners at the OAS and United Nations, and 
through targeted sanctions against individuals respon-
sible for the deterioration of democratic institutions and 
the rule of law in Venezuela. 
Attest: 
Clerk.