U.S. Bill Proposing Sanctions on Venezuela Passes House Foreign Affairs Committee

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Bill Proposing Sanctions on Venezuela Passes House Foreign Affairs Committee
By Z.C. Dutka


Santa Elena de Uairen May 9th, 2014. (venezuelanalysis.com)- A Human Rights bill proposed by Florida Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, which includes sanctions on the Venezuelan government, cleared its first legislative hurdle this morning after passing the House Foreign Affairs Committee.


Individual Sanctions


The bill, known as the Venezuelan Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, will sanction individuals responsible for “serious human rights abuses” against those participating in the anti-government protests that have received widespread media attention since February. It also includes those individuals who have supported those acts, whether financially or otherwise, and those officials who called for the arrest of those “legitimately exercising their freedom of expression and assembly.”


The most recent draft presented to the Committee listed asset blocking and inadmissibility to the US as types of individual sanctions. It also included the possibility of a presidential waiver of the application of sanctions, if the U.S. president should consider national security interests call for it, or conditions in Venezuela have improved.

Democracy Promotion


Section 7 of the bill outlines a “Comprehensive Strategy to Promote Internet Freedom and Access to Information,” including the expansion of activities to “train HR, civil society, and democracy activists” and the expansion of proxy servers for said activists, as well as access to “uncensored news sources.” 

More:
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10673

[djean111]

1. Oooh - maybe we can slap sanctions on the government that cracked down on OWS........