BOISE, Idaho – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement regarding the Biden-Harris Administration’s last four years of failed policy related to Venezuela:
“The current predicament in Venezuela is no surprise to anyone who has paid attention. The Biden-Harris Administration has squandered the position of strength it inherited from President Trump’s strategic use of maximum and multilateral pressure on the Maduro regime. The incoherent and blatantly flawed efforts of the current administration have strengthened the Maduro regime and its criminal network, exacerbated the already horrific humanitarian crisis, and allowed malign actors like China, Russia, and Iran to continue intervening in our hemisphere, putting American lives at risk.
“In September 2021, I warned that the Biden-Harris Administration needed to assert U.S. leadership in Venezuela and that any process that kept the Maduro regime intact would exacerbate intolerable security threats to the United States and the Western Hemisphere. Tragically, President Biden and Vice President Harris chose to ignore those warnings for far too long.”
“In contrast, my bill, the Venezuelan Democracy Act, would condition U.S. sanctions on Venezuela based on specific democratic progress, ensuring that any removal of U.S. sanctions on the Maduro regime must be preceded by a standards-based transition to democratic order. The Venezuelan people have been loud and clear in their calls for democracy, and the Biden-Harris Administration has failed them time and time again.”
Over the last four years, the Biden-Harris Administration has:
- Undermined the interim government of Juan Guaido and eventually prompted its demise in January 2023. The Biden-Harris Administration also failed to support a workable alternative following the downfall of the Guaido interim government.
- Weakened law enforcement efforts by failing to enforce the March 26, 2020, indictment of Maduro and associates. The Biden-Harris Administration freed Maduro’s two nephews who were convicted for drug trafficking and sentenced in December 2017 to 18 years in prison. It also freed Maduro’s top money launderer and middle man to Iran, Alex Saab, who was extradited to the United States in 2020 after extensive diplomatic efforts by the Trump Administration.
- Failed to hold the Maduro regime accountable for enabling mass illegal migration to the U.S. border by allowing close to a million Venezuelan illegal migrant crossings since 2021, including individuals in Venezuelan transnational criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua.
- Not held the Maduro regime to account for its role in illicit drug trafficking, the majority of which is made up of cocaine that has killed close to 100,000 Americans between 2021 and 2023.
- Failed to offer a quick and strong condemnation when Maduro did not give up power peacefully following Venezuela’s sham elections. It was obvious there was no plan for this outcome which was a clear eventuality.
The Biden-Harris Administration has also failed to sanction a single individual or entity tied to the Maduro regime. Instead, it eased sanctions on the regime, including:
- The removal of sanctions on individuals in the Maduro regime, including Maduro’s nephew and top regime official, Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, in May 2022.
- The repeated easing of oil sanctions on the Maduro regime in May and November 2022 as the regime kidnapped American citizens and signed dozens of bilateral agreements with Iran, Russia and China.
- The removal of sweeping oil, natural gas, and gold sanctions on the Maduro regime in October 2023, just a month after it established an “All-Weather Strategic Partnership” with China and announced a domestic referendum to annex two-thirds of neighboring Guyana’s territory.
- The removal of multiple trading bans on the Maduro regime’s sovereign bonds and the regime oil company’s debt and equity.
- The easing of sanctions on Venezuelan state airline, Conviasa – a key source of revenue for the Maduro regime with ties to Iran’s Mahan Air, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity.
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