Senate Republicans Urge Biden to Impose More Venezuela Sanctions
The Biden administration should increase sanctions on the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela and convince European allies to do the same, a group of Senate Republicans said in a June 16 letter to the White House. The lawmakers, including several on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the White House’s attempts to intervene in negotiations between the Maduro regime and the U.S.-backed opposition party led by Juan Guaido, calling it a “flawed and incoherent policy” and only put the U.S. at the “center of Venezuelan political disputes.” The U.S. in May said it was preparing to ease some sanctions against Venezuela to encourage negotiations between the two parties (see 2205170074).
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Although President Joe Biden campaigned on multilateral sanctions to pressure the Maduro regime, that hasn’t happened, said the lawmakers, including Jim Risch of Idaho, the Foreign Relations Committee's top Republican. “Nearly two years in, your administration has not sanctioned a single person tied to the Maduro regime and the European Union has failed to match existing U.S. and Canadian sanctions,” the letter said. “You must change course in Venezuela and increase pressure on the Maduro regime until all political prisoners are released and conditions are right to conduct free and fair elections.” The White House didn’t comment.