Florida Republicans are calling on the Biden administration to reimpose sanctions against Venezuela. The calls come after Venezuela did not hold up their end of the bargain by hosting free and fair elections.
Lawmakers were divided about easing sanctions against Venezuela. While Democrats embraced the Biden administration’s decision, Republicans warned that Venezuela would not hold up its end of the bargain.
During a hearing wherein Secretary of State Antony Blinken was questioned about reimposing sanctions against Venezuela, Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) explained the situation,
“we recently did a deal with the Maduro regime in Venezuela in which we lifted sanctions in exchange for free and fair elections that they were supposed to comply with. It’s taken them two weeks now. They have violated that. They cancelled the opposition’s primary election and continue to ban the winner of that election,” Rubio detailed, asking if the United States would be reimposing sanctions.
In response, Secretary Blinken noted that if the Maduro regime has violated the agreement, the Biden administration is prepared to reimpose the sanctions that were lifted.
Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R) is similarly demanding that the Biden administration reimpose the sanctions. This week, she sounded the alarm by sending a letter to President Joe Biden (D), arguing that “Dictator Nicolas Maduro wants to handpick an opposition candidate that is not a threat to him.”
“This is a clear breach of the agreement reached on the 17th of October in Barbados which you facilitated,” Salazar added, writing that Biden “must keep the agreement and reimpose sanctions.”
“Maduro has broken the letter and spirit of the agreement reached with the opposition and which you helped facilitate,” Salazar writes in the letter, expressing that “the concessions you made to the dictatorship, including lifting of sanctions on PDVSA, must be immediately rescinded and new coercive measures must be placed on the table.”
