The United States House of Representatives approved a bill to strengthen sanctions against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government, prompting condemnation from Venezuela.
On Monday, November 18, the Banning Operations and Leases with the Illegitimate Venezuelan Authoritarian Regime Act, known as the BOLIVAR Act, was approved in second discussion by the US House of Representatives.
The Bolívar Act has follow a rocky road in the US COngress. It was sponsored by ultra-conservative Floridian senator, Rick Scott in October 2021 (S.688.) The House of Representative draft (H.R. 825) was sponsored by Florida’s Rep. Mike Waltz, who is slated to be President-elect Donald Trump’s next National Security Advisor, along with a list of bipartisan co-sponsors, including Florida Rep. Wasserman Schultz.
“The regulations prohibit federal agencies from doing business with anyone who supports the oppressive Maduro regime,” reported the official website of Scott back in 2022.
The Bolívar Act expands restrictions set forth in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2020. Its main objectives include strengthening existing sanctions against the government of Nicolás Maduro and freezing additional assets currently under its control. In its first drafts, the law prevented the US Department of Defense from contracting with companies linked to the Venezuelan government, but now extends the ban to all federal agencies, as reported this week by Rep. Waltz on his official website.
Although the US House of Representatives approved the legislation, it still needs approval from the Senate. However, some US media outlets report that the bill will have strong support in the Senate.
In a statement published on Tuesday, November 19, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil, the Venezuelan government claims that “this instrument seeks to prevent relations and economic cooperation between Venezuela and the United States.” It also states that “this new attack will be guaranteed to fail.”
The full unofficial translation of the statement is below:
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically rejects the approval, by the House of Representatives of the United States of America, of a bill that, shamelessly, has placed the acronym of Bolívar, in an offense against the greatest genius in American history, who dedicated his life to defeating imperialism and colonialism, anti-values contained in this new criminal attack.
This instrument seeks to prevent relations and economic cooperation between Venezuela and the United States in different areas of action, in clear violation of the United Nations Charter, requested by the [Venezuelan] fascist right of the oligarchy, adding to the more than 930 unilateral and extraterritorial coercive measures against the Venezuelan people and the US business system itself.
This new attack will surely fail, like all the ridiculous adventures to which they have subjected the United States government, including the bizarre support for Juan Guaidó in 2019.
Venezuela calls upon the United Nations bodies responsible for Human Rights, as well as the international community, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, to condemn this illegal act and violation of national sovereignty, which will once again fail in its attempt to subdue the Bolivarian people, who will continue to defeat each aggression and give lessons to the world about their gallantry in advancing on the path of prosperity built together with their revolutionary government.
Originally published in Orinoco Tribune – Caracas, November 19, 2024