Like the United States, Venezuela is gearing up for an election in 2024. However, few expect it to be legitimate. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and others in a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding the United States observes the integrity of the elections.
"The Venezuelan people cannot afford to see another fraudulent election, which will only bring further suffering to their nation and foment greater instability in the Americas," the letter says, bringing attention to the Nicolas Maduro regime's efforts to criminalize the opposition, such as imprisoning the popular Maria Corina Machado.
Additionally, Maduro demanded the resignation of Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE), only to replace its members under the leadership of Maduro's wife Cilia Flores in June, and recently announced international election observers would be barred from the country.
As a result, Venezuelan politicians opposed to Maduro will have their own primary in October.
Furthermore, the letter demanded Blinken observe the primary and note if the regime attempts to interfere, allowing whoever wins can run in the general election.
"More than seven million Venezuelans have already fled the country in desperation, and more political volatility will only add to those numbers," the letter continued.
In July, Sen. Rubio blasted the Biden Administration's supposed appeasement of Maduro in an op-ed for the Miami Herald, calling the demand for renewed oil exportations after the imprisonment of Machado "like handing a bone to a dog after it’s bitten your friend."
More recently, Sen. Rubio said in a statement for The Floridian that a "durable solution" to the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis, which has affected the United States in the form of migrants, would be the restoration of democracy to the country.
"Humanitarian assistance was never meant to be a permanent solution. A durable solution to Venezuela’s migration crisis requires restoring democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela. Venezuelans will continue to flee the country so long as the Maduro regime commits human rights abuses and mismanages the economy," said Rubio.
