Salazar to Host Venezuela’s Machado in Foreign Affairs Committee

US Representative Maria-Elvira Salazar (R-FL) will lead a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into the fight for freedom in Venezuela this Wednesday, January 7th. 

The hearing will feature Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as the main witness. 

Machado overwhelmingly won the Venezuelan opposition party’s recent primary elections. However, Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro’s puppet Venezuelan Supreme Court invalidated the election results and barred Machado shortly afterwards.

Since then, Machado has continued campaigning for the upcoming presidential elections despite violent opposition from Maduro’s regime. 

Representative Salazar announced Machado’s upcoming hearing appearance via X, which will be publicly accessible. 

“Next week, @MariaCorinaYA and I will discuss her fight for liberty in Venezuela and the challenges she faces against the Maduro regime’s oppression,” said Salazar. 

Since Machado’s ban, sundry legislators have called for President Joe Biden to fully reinstate lifted sanctions against Venezuela originally removed to entice Maduro into allowing free and fair elections. 

In October of last year, the Biden Administration lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gold sectors in exchange for assurances the country would be committed to holding fair elections. 

The sanctions relief deal, known as the ‘Barbados Agreement’, ultimately failed as Maduro jailed opposition figures and barred Machado from running for office. 

In response, President Biden claimed he would consider re-imposing sanctions on Maduro’s regime. 

Conservative lawmakers have intensively pressured Biden to speedily sanction Venezuela to prevent Maduro from further enriching himself at the expense of the Venezuelan people. 

Last week, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) sent Biden a letter urging him to immediately impose lifted sanctions on Venezuela.  

“To maintain the United States’ credibility, and hold the regime accountable for its decision to subvert democratic elections, we urge you to immediately reimpose sanctions in place before the declaration of the Barbados agreement,” reads the letter. 

The White House has signaled they will impose all of the sanctions that have been lifted unless Maduro changes course prior to April 18th. 

However, for now, the US has only re-imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s gold sector.