No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states findings that the Venezuelan parliamentary elections held on December 6, 2020, and May 25, 2025, and the presidential election held on July 28, 2024, were fraudulent, and that Nicolás Maduro lost the 2024 election and lacks legitimacy. It expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should recognize Edmundo González Urrutia as Venezuela’s legitimate President-elect, support the democratic opposition, facilitate free and fair presidential elections in 2026, and consult the opposition on any energy agreements.
This section defines terms used throughout the Act. It incorporates the meanings of "admission," "admitted," and "alien" from the Immigration and Nationality Act; specifies the six Senate and House committees that constitute the "appropriate congressional committees"; adopts the definition of "gross violations of internationally recognized human rights" from the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961; and sets out the meanings of "United States person" and "Venezuelan person."
This section directs the Secretary of State to develop and submit to Congress a strategy updating the Democratic Transition Framework for Venezuela, originally published March 31, 2020. The strategy must use diplomatic tools to facilitate a free and fair presidential election in 2026, end the Maduro-Rodriguez regime’s usurpation of authority, restore democracy and the rule of law, free political prisoners, and deliver humanitarian assistance; outline benchmarks and next steps for sanctions coordination, closing torture centers, military compliance with election results, institutional reform, safe return of opposition leaders including María Corina Machado, and transitional justice; and require monthly reporting on energy negotiations and democratic progress.
This section requires the President to impose sanctions on Venezuelan persons determined to be complicit in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights in Venezuela. Sanctions include blocking all property and interests in property of such persons and rendering covered aliens inadmissible to the United States and ineligible for visas or parole. It provides exceptions for humanitarian transactions, national security waivers, democratic transition, compliance with the UN Headquarters Agreement, and authorized intelligence or law enforcement activities, and subjects violators to penalties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.