RUBIO: Letter from 'Congressional Marxists' is cover for Biden's future Venezuela plans

A coalition of 18 left-wing House Democrats sent a letter to President Biden on Tuesday urging him to lift all sanctions against the Venezuelan dictatorship that “exacerbate the humanitarian situation” in the country.

In the letter, the group led by Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Jesús García (D-Ill.), wrote, “it is clear that broad sanctions have failed to achieve their aims.”

“In light of this, and the dire human costs incurred, we urge you to lift all U.S. financial and sectoral sanctions that exacerbate the humanitarian situation, though without hindering or delaying the urgent action needed to transition the U.S. economy off of fossil fuels.” 

On Thursday, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio responded to the Democrats’ letter, warning that “the Biden administration has already decided to lift many sanctions on Maduro.”

The Biden administration has already decided to lift many sanctions on Maduro

This letter from the open congressional marxists is just cover for what Biden already plans to announce very soon https://t.co/yG2Kyd8RqQ

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 12, 2022

“This letter from the open congressional Marxists is just cover for what Biden already plans to announce very soon,” alluding to rumors of an energy deal between the U.S. and Venezuela born of the Biden administration’s meeting with Venezuelan officials in Caracas just days before the U.S. announced a ban on Russian energy imports.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have in recent weeks criticized the administration for its willingness to engage with Venezuela, as well as Saudi Arabia and Iran, over potential oil deals amid the ban.

Last month, Biden – along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela James Story – received another letter from Venezuelan civil society leaders and economists asking them to lift all sanctions against the South American country, Bloomberg reported.

“The suffering of the Venezuelan people is a tragedy. Though this tragedy is the result of various factors, numerous studies have shown that U.S. sanctions have been one of the leading causes,” the letter from the U.S. lawmakers reads.

In response to that letter, however, a group of more than 50 representatives of the Venezuelan community in the United States sent a letter to President Joe Biden, U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela James Story, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, as well as other representatives of the Federal Congress, asking for additional sanctions against Maduro’s regime.

In the letter, the authors highlight the "convenience and necessity of the sanctions imposed by the U.S. on the Maduro regime within the framework of the struggle for the freedom of the Venezuelan people," in addition to the causes of the serious economic crisis suffered by Venezuela, "whose genesis is unrelated and prior to the sanctions."

"It was the sanctions imposed by the U.S. on different Maduro officials, which rather put some brake on the suffering of the Venezuelan people, victims of this communist regime, as they have helped to shut down the regime's financing of the criminal activities they organize," they said.

Since socialist dictator Hugo Chavez took power in Venezuela in 1998, the country has spiraled into an economic and social nightmare. Under Nicolas Maduro, things have only gotten worse.

In Venezuela — where inflation hovers at around 2,000 percent — the hunger brought about by a failed economy has only added to the regime’s many human rights abuses.

As millions of individuals continue to flee to neighboring countries, those who remain struggle to eat as the country continues to suffer from food shortages brought about by the regime’s desperate attempts to fix the broken economy by implementing price controls and seizing farms.  

But Venezuelans are unable to speak out against their failed leadership as Nicolas Maduro’s regime has continued to jail opposition voices and presently stands accused of committing crimes against humanity.

After the last round of elections, U.S. and European officials even denounced the elections in Venezuela as a sham.

In a Nov. 22 statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “Arbitrary arrests and harassment of political and civil society actors, criminalization of opposition parties’ activities, bans on candidates across the political spectrum, manipulation of voter registration rolls, persistent media censorship, and other authoritarian tactics all but quashed political pluralism and ensured the elections would not reflect the will of the Venezuelan people.”

In November, the International Criminal Court prosecutor opened an investigation shortly after a U.N. fact-finding mission found that judicial authorities had been complicit in many egregious abuses.

Earlier this week, however, the NGO Programa Venezolano de Educación Acción en Derechos Humanos (Provea) warned that cases of torture in the country increased 148% between January and December 2021 compared to the previous year.

"Between the months of January and December 2021, Provea recorded a total of 241 torture victims, an increase of 148.4% over the number of victims reported in 2020, and the second-highest recorded in the last 33 years," the report said.

"The increase in abuse techniques based on the humiliation and physical and psychological reduction of victims, through sexual aggression, is of particular concern," it added. 

Regarding extrajudicial executions, the NGO documented that "the police and military forces killed 1,414 people throughout the country."

"The State continues to breach national and international norms on the differentiated and progressive use of force, ignoring the obligation not to cause arbitrary deprivations of life," Provea warned.