Wednesday, March 01, 2017

Senate Resolution on Venezuela

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution expressing concern about Venezuela. This is the only part urging action by the president:

[The Senate] urges the President of the United States to provide full support for OAS efforts in favor of constitutional and democratic solutions to the political impasse, and to instruct appropriate Federal agencies to hold officials of the Government of Venezuela accountable for violations of United States law and abuses of internationally recognized human rights.

It's really just the same as other resolutions from past years, sometimes to the letter. I don't mean this dismissively. The effort here is to keep Venezuela on Trump's radar and build on the bit of momentum that his visit with Lilian Tintori (Leopoldo López's wife) and sanctions.

As I wrote earlier, the administration is not sending signals of stepping up action very much against Venezuela. Extending sanctions on individuals, however, is cost-free and doesn't require proof that it's actually working. This was the same dynamic even three years ago under President Obama.

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