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Issued
August 4, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextSUPPORT A PEACEFUL DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION IN VENEZUELA THROUGH FREE AND
FAIR ELECTIONS
Mr. CRUZ (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Schiff, and Ms. Rosen) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
S. Res. 829
Whereas the Venezuelan presidential election was held on
July 28, 2024, and on August 1, 2024, the Department of State
concluded that overwhelming—and meticulously gathered—
evidence demonstrated that Nicolas Maduro did not win that
election and that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia received the most
votes in that election;
Whereas Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice upheld the
June 30, 2023, decision of the Office of the Comptroller
General of the Republic imposing a 15-year ban on Maria
Corina Machado and preventing her from appearing on the
presidential ballot and holding public office after she won
the Venezuelan opposition's independently administered
presidential primary on October 22, 2023, with more than 90
percent of the vote;
Whereas the Venezuelan regime also blocked Corina Yoris
from registering as a candidate for the election, and the
Unitary Platform opposition coalition ultimately chose
Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as a provisional candidate;
Whereas, following the capture of Nicolas Maduro during
Operation Absolute Resolve on January 3, 2026, Delcy
Rodriguez assumed the interim presidency of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela;
Whereas, on January 28, 2026, Secretary of State Marco
Rubio testified before the Committee on Foreign Relations of
the Senate that the objective of the Trump Administration's
policy is to achieve a friendly, stable, prosperous, and
democratic Venezuela in which “all elements of society are
represented in free and fair elections”;
Whereas, on July 16, 2026, the Department of State
reaffirmed that the United States will continue to support
Venezuelan-led efforts that produce tangible progress toward
a peaceful and democratic electoral transition;
Whereas Delcy Rodriguez does not have an electoral mandate
from the people of Venezuela, has not taken meaningful steps
toward convening free and fair presidential elections, and is
broadly assessed as unable to win any such free and fair
election;
Whereas the detention, assault, enforced disappearance,
death, or other serious harm suffered by individuals seeking
public office has long existed in Venezuela, and is
fundamentally incompatible with the conduct of free and fair
democratic elections; and
Whereas the structures that have sustained persecution in
Venezuela for years have not yet been dismantled: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate—
(1) reaffirms the policy of the United States to support a
peaceful democratic transition in Venezuela through free and
fair elections;
(2) urges that the interim authorities of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela take immediate steps to restore
democratic governance through free, fair, and transparent
presidential elections;
(3) calls for the unconditional and immediate release of
all political prisoners in the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, including those detained in relation to the July
2024 election; and
(4) declares that any arbitrary detention, sentence,
assault, enforced disappearance, death, or other serious harm
suffered by any individual seeking public office, including
Maria Corina Machado, would—
(A) gravely undermine the freedom or fairness of future
elections;
(B) be presumed as having been done with the knowledge,
acquiescence, or approval of senior officials of the interim
authorities of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; and
(C) necessitate actions by the United States to hold
accountable any person determined to be responsible for or
complicit in such actions.