Salazar Introduces the VERDAD Reauthorization Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) introduced the VERDAD Reauthorization Act, a bill that would reauthorize the anti-Maduro Venezuela Emergency Relief, Democracy Assistance, and Development (VERDAD) Act passed into law in 2019. Original cosponsors include Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Mike Waltz (R-FL), Carlos Giménez (R-FL), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA).

The Maduro regime is employing every possible illegal tactic to distract from the momentum of his leading political opponent María Corina Machado’s campaign. It is imperative that the United States stand by the Venezuelan people’s best chance to end more than two decades of socialist dictatorship.

“The dictator Maduro and his lackeys are doing everything in their power to ensure Chavismo’s primary opponent, María Corina Machado, never reaches Miraflores,” said Chairwoman Salazar. “Maduro is a tyrant who needs to go. My bill reauthorizing the VERDAD Act will show the Venezuelan people that America is still on their side in the fight against socialism.”

First passed in 2019, the VERDAD Act was introduced to support efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela by sanctioning key regime officials while safeguarding the rights and liberties of those escaping socialist persecution.

Reauthorization of the VERDAD Act is critically important as Maduro has stepped up his attacks on Venezuelan institutions and the opposition. The regime broke a promise with the United States by nullifying the opposition’s primary results after María Corina Machado – his main competitor – won over 90% of the vote. Not long after Maduro established a distraction referendum to take over the Essequibo region of Guyana, he had his Attorney General arrest several of María Corina’s closest political advisors.

These attacks on María Corina’s candidacy indicate that the United States must keep up the pressure on the Maduro regime.

Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rick Scott (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Bill Haggerty (R-TN) introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

To read the text of the bill, click here.

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