MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on further repression against the democratic forces in Venezuela: attacks on presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado
5.2.2024 - (2024/2549(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 132(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Anna Fotyga, Angel Dzhambazki, Hermann Tertsch, Adam Bielan, Joachim Stanisław Brudziński, Witold Jan Waszczykowski, Waldemar Tomaszewski, Dominik Tarczyński, Andżelika Anna Możdżanowska
on behalf of the ECR Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0097/2024
B9‑0111/2024
European Parliament resolution on further repression against the democratic forces in Venezuela: attacks on presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on Venezuela,
– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas on 17 October 2023, the Venezuelan regime reached a deal (the Partial Agreement on the Promotion of Political Rights and Electoral Guarantees for All, known as the ‘Barbados Agreement’) with the political opposition to hold elections during the second half of 2024; whereas this agreement covered important topics such as allowing international observers to participate in the electoral process; whereas the agreement was signed to serve as a first step to ensure free and fair elections in Venezuela;
B. whereas in October 2023, opposition parties held primary elections and María Corina Machado was elected as the opposition presidential candidate, by a large majority; whereas days later, the attorney general’s office launched an investigation into the organising committee of the primaries for alleged fraud; whereas the pro-regime Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) suspended all effects regarding the result;
C. whereas on 26 January 2024, the TSJ reviewed and maintained the 15-year disqualification imposed previously against María Corina Machado; whereas this ongoing arbitrary disqualification, together with the disqualifications imposed on other prominent Venezuelan opposition figures such as Leopoldo López and Henrique Capriles, among others, severely restrict the rights of Venezuelans to choose their representatives, strongly undermining the principles of democracy and the right to political participation, and making impossible the holding of free and fair elections;
D. whereas in its resolution of 13 July 2023 on the political disqualifications in Venezuela[1], Parliament already strongly condemned the political disqualifications of candidates by the Venezuelan regime; whereas this resolution specifically condemned the arbitrary and unconstitutional 15-year disqualification of María Corina Machado and other prominent political figures and deplored the fact that the recommendations of the last EU election observation mission (EOM) had been completely ignored;
E. whereas the United States, the Organization of American States, bodies of the UN, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and many other countries and international institutions, have condemned the political repression practised by the Venezuelan regime through the political disqualification of opposition leaders, in some cases denouncing such actions as being characteristic of authoritarian regimes;
F. whereas the United States has also stated its deep concern over the Venezuelan regime’s interference in the composition of the National Electoral Council (CNE); whereas the regime-controlled National Assembly elected all new members of the CNE in August 2023; whereas new CNE members include Elvis Amoroso, who, as comptroller general, disqualified opposition candidates, and Carlos Quintero, whom the United States sanctioned in 2017 for his role in weakening elections; whereas an independent, impartial and fully functioning CNE is indispensable for free and fair elections;
G. whereas the disqualifications of opposition candidates by the Venezuelan regime severely breach the political rights and electoral guarantees signed in the Barbados Agreement;
H. whereas similar electoral meddling in Venezuela was highlighted in the report by the UN EOM on the regional and municipal elections for executive and legislative positions in November 2021; whereas previous elections, including the 2018 presidential contest, have not received official recognition amid allegations of widespread intimidation and irregularities;
I. whereas the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition reported the presence of armed groups in 21 % of polling stations across the country during the 2018 presidential elections; whereas elections in the past have been overshadowed by violence against and intimidation of potential voters, such as the murder of a citizen in a polling station in the state of Zulia by gangs and other armed groups loyal to the Venezuelan regime; whereas armed groups have spread fear in both rural and urban areas, attacking voters and candidates, manipulating election results and restricting access to voting centres by imposing absolute territorial control;
J. whereas the abovementioned armed groups include the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Patriotic Forces of National Liberation (FPLN), and groups that emerged from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), operating mostly in border states and brutally enforcing curfews and regulations governing everyday activities;
K. whereas the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro has built a system of governance characterised by an alliance between the government and organised crime networks over the past years; whereas this is a symbiotic relationship, whereby non-state armed groups provide senior members of the regime with access to and total control over their areas of influence; whereas, in return, the regime tolerates, and in some cases actively protects, the activities of these groups; whereas the proper functioning of this system of governance maintains President Nicolás Maduro in power;
L. whereas the Venezuelan regime is supported by international actors and countries, such as Cuba and Nicaragua, most of them represented in the Foro de Sao Paulo and the Grupo de Puebla; whereas Venezuela, together with Cuba, is Russia’s most important trading, political and military ally in Latin America;
M. whereas the latest actions of the Venezuelan regime replicate the same patterns of abuse and waves of repression already used by President Nicolás Maduro and his allies; whereas this repression includes the unjust arrest of a dozen opposition members, including former National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó and three campaign staffers of presidential candidate María Corina Machado, all three of them held against their will in an unknown location;
N. whereas the Venezuelan authorities have in recent years been harassing, persecuting and arbitrarily jailing politicians and civil society representatives such as union workers, journalists and human rights defenders, among many others;
O. whereas, according to the legal aid organisation Foro Penal, more than 15 800 people have been subjected to politically motivated arrests since 2014, and around 270 remain in detention;
P. whereas the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and its international fact-finding mission (FFM) have been documenting cases for many years, including numerous killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, instances of torture and ill-treatment against opponents of the Maduro regime;
Q. whereas judges from the International Criminal Court (ICC) have found that Venezuelan courts are not continuing to investigate possible crimes against humanity; whereas the ICC has therefore resumed its own investigations; whereas the FFM has affirmed that it has reasonable grounds to believe that far from dismantling structures involved in abuses, Venezuelan authorities have promoted individuals responsible for them;
R. whereas President Nicolás Maduro’s most recent campaign of repression has been implemented through the ‘Bolivarian Fury’ plan (Furia Bolivariana), which involves the deployment of military and police troops to ‘thwart any terrorist and coup attempts, no matter how they are presented’; whereas, as a consequence, the headquarters of numerous opposition political parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have become the targets of vandalism, often featuring graffiti reading ‘Bolivarian Fury’;
S. whereas amid these attacks, the regime also announced that the National Constituent Assembly would soon pass a law giving the executive branch broad powers to control, register, sanction and dissolve NGOs; whereas this law will serve to further restrict civil liberties; whereas the Venezuelan authorities have stigmatised, harassed and repressed the media, closing dissenting outlets; whereas the civil society organisation Espacio Público reported 261 violations of freedom of expression in 2023, with censorship and intimidation being the most common;
1. Calls for the immediate and unconditional lifting of the 15-year disqualification of María Corina Machado and all the other political opposition figures, allowing them to stand in the elections;
2. Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all the arbitrarily arrested political and social leaders, including the former National Assembly leader, Juan Guaidó, and three campaign staffers of presidential candidate María Corina Machado (Juan Freites, Luis Camacaro and Guillermo Lopez);
3. Calls for the respect and full implementation of the Barbados Agreement as a first step towards ensuring that the presidential elections scheduled for the second half of 2024 are free and transparent;
4. Strongly condemns the interference in the designation of the members of the CNE and calls for an independent nomination procedure for new CNE appointments;
5. Expresses its deepest concern about the potential negative effects of the Bolivarian Fury plan on civil liberties and the possibility of having free and fair elections;
6. Stresses the need to ensure free and fair elections through the full implementation of the 23 recommendations made by the last EU EOM, particularly those regarding the abolition of the comptroller general’s prerogative to strip citizens of their political rights through an administrative procedure, the integrity and secrecy of the electronic voting system, the use of state resources in electoral campaigns, the conditions to ensure balanced media coverage of electoral campaigns, especially in state media, and the promotion of freedom of expression through the repeal of the Law against Hatred; demands that the Venezuelan authorities approve an EU EOM for the coming presidential elections;
7. Condemns in the strongest terms the numerous killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, instances of torture and any other criminal actions against opponents of the Maduro regime, including politicians, journalists and human right defenders, among many others;
8. Deplores the continuous repression by the Venezuelan regime against political opposition figures and civil society; reiterates its firm and unconditional support for the Venezuelan people;
9. Deplores Venezuela’s alignment with Russia, Cuba, Nicaragua and other dictatorial regimes;
10. Calls on the Member States, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR), the United States and international human rights organisations to closely monitor the repressive actions of the Venezuelan regime against the political opposition and civil society in Venezuela;
11. Calls on the Member States and the VP/HR to impose the necessary sanctions against those individuals from the Venezuelan regime and its proxies responsible for violations of human rights against the Venezuelan people;
12. Fully supports the ICC investigations into the Venezuelan regime’s extensive crimes and acts of repression and calls for the EU to support the investigations into the alleged crimes against humanity in the country in order to hold those responsible to account;
13. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Organization of American States, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Venezuelan authorities.
- [1] Texts adopted, P9_TA(2023)0288.