Shaheen, Meeks Press Rubio for Answers on Admin’s Inaction on Venezuela, Question Lack of Progress to Secure Democratic Transition

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding answers on the administration's lack of progress to push a democratic transition forward in Venezuela without an agenda or any sort of timeline for democratic elections.

The full letter can be found here.

"...Four months into the administration's engagement with Maduro's hand-picked Vice President, the Delcy regime is still stacked with the same Maduro regime officials, the regime has yet to outline an electoral timeline, and 473 political prisoners continue to languish in prison. The administration also has yet to comment on Delcy Rodríguez's April 24th announcement that the Amnesty Law for Democratic Coexistence was "coming to an end." We are also concerned by reported appointments of Larry Devoe as Attorney General, Eglée González Lobato as Ombudsman, and Gen. Gustavo González López as Minister of Defense, appointments that, if supported or accepted without objection, would represent missed opportunities to address endemic corruption, strengthen the rule of law, and transition away from the old repressive Maduro regime. Nor has Rodríguez's government abandoned the regime's destabilizing posture toward Guyana, one of the United States' democratic partners in the Caribbean.

"These realities raise serious questions about whether the administration's current approach is producing democratic results or simply rewarding tactical cooperation by the same political apparatus that helped sustain Maduro's rule.

"We understand that elections and a true democratic transition cannot happen overnight. But neither will happen at all if the Trump administration fails to exercise its leverage to insist on the necessary institutional changes that would make a democratic transition possible. Democratic transitions require sustained and coordinated diplomacy across agencies and clear demands of democratization to transition away from autocratic structures and practices. As of today, the department has yet to provide any evidence the Trump Administration is doing any of this hard work."

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