Changes from resolution motion to resolution motion joint

RemovedB100027/2024

▸4 unchanged paragraphs

European Parliament resolution on the situation in Venezuela

(2024/2810(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Venezuela,

Change 1

Removed– having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

Added– having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to other UN human rights treaties and instruments,

RemovedA. whereas on 17 October 2023, the Venezuelan regime reached a deal (the ‘Barbados Agreement’) with the political opposition; whereas this agreement covered important topics, such as allowing international observers to participate in the electoral process; whereas the agreement was signed to ensure free and fair elections in Venezuela;

Added– having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

RemovedB. whereas previous elections in Venezuela, also including the 2018 presidential contest, have not received official recognition amid allegations of widespread intimidation, irregularities and massive fraud by Nicolás Maduro’s regime;

Added– having regard to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the 1954 Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum,

RemovedC. whereas in its resolution approved on 13 July 2023 on the political disqualifications in Venezuela, the European Parliament 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 had been completely ignored;

Added– having regard to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC),

RemovedD. whereas before the elections several countries stated their 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;

Added– having regard to the Venezuelan Constitution,

RemovedE. whereas in the presidential election held on 28 July 2024, the processing of the votes and the announcement of the results by the Maduro-controlled CNE were deeply flawed, leading to an outcome that does not represent the will of the Venezuelan people being announced for which no supporting evidence was given; whereas, as a consequence, the electoral result proclaimed by the CNE cannot be legitimised, since it was the result of massive fraud;

Added– having regard to the statements of 31 July and 12 August 2024 by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,

RemovedF. whereas the democratic opposition has published more than 80 % of the tally sheets received directly from polling stations throughout Venezuela; whereas these tally sheets indicate that Edmundo González Urrutia received the most votes in Venezuela’s presidential election on 28 July by an insurmountable margin; whereas independent observers have corroborated these facts;

Added– having regard to the statement of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of 3 September 2024 on the ‘climate of fear’ in Venezuela,

RemovedG. whereas the abovementioned and other incontrovertible evidence indicate that the undisputed winner of the presidential election and legitimate newly elected president of Venezuela is Edmundo González Urrutia;

Added– having regard to the interim report of the UN Panel of Experts on the Venezuelan presidential election of 28 July 2024, published on 9 August 2024,

RemovedH. whereas Venezuela is governed by an authoritarian regime that is repressing the political opposition and human rights defenders; whereas the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and its international fact-finding mission have documented numerous killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, instances of torture and ill treatment of opponents of the Maduro regime, which can be considered crimes against humanity;

Added– having regard to the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) of 29 July 2024 on the presidential elections in Venezuela,

RemovedI. whereas political prisoners in Venezuela face inhumane prison conditions and systematic torture, and the regime is denying them critical healthcare;

Added– having regard to the statements of 4 and 24 August 2024 by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on behalf of the EU on post-election developments in Venezuela,

RemovedJ. whereas the Venezuelan regime is supported by international actors and countries, such as Cuba and Nicaragua, most of them represented in the Foro de São Paulo and the Grupo de Puebla; whereas Venezuela, together with Cuba, is Russia’s and Iran’s most important trading, political and military ally in Latin America;

Added– having regard to the Partial Agreement on the Promotion of Political Rights and Electoral Guarantees for All, signed by Nicolás Maduro’s regime and the Venezuelan opposition alliance, the Unitary Platform, in October 2023 (the Barbados Agreement),

RemovedK. whereas since the presidential election, Maduro’s regime has escalated its crackdown on the political opposition; whereas, on 2 September 2024, Venezuela’s attorney general’s office announced that a court had issued an arrest warrant for the opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, accusing him of conspiracy and other crimes;

Added– having regard to the report of the Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation of the Organization of American States’ (OAS) Secretariat for Strengthening Democracy of 30 July 2024 on the presidential elections in Venezuela,

RemovedL. whereas the Maduro regime’s repression of the opposition drove Edmundo González to leave the country and seek asylum in Spain, with the aim of protecting his freedom, integrity and life;

Added– having regard to the OAS resolution of 16 August 2024 on the situation in Venezuela,

Removed1. Condemns the massive electoral fraud perpetrated by the Venezuelan regime during the presidential elections on 28 July this year and does not recognise the false victory proclaimed by Nicolás Maduro and his proxies;

Added– having regard to the statement of the Carter Center of 30 July 2024 on the Venezuelan election,

Removed2. Acknowledges Edmundo González Urrutia as the newly elected and legitimate president of the Republic of Venezuela;

Added– having regard to the final report of the EU Election Observation Mission to Venezuela of 22 February 2022 entitled ‘Regional and municipal elections 21 November 2021’ and to the statement by the President of the Electoral Observation Delegation of the European Parliament of 23 November 2021 on the regional and local elections in Venezuela in 2021,

Removed3. Calls for the EU, in particular the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR), Josep Borrell, and the EU Member States to recognise Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate president of the Republic of Venezuela;

Added– having regard to Rule 136(2) and (4) of its Rules of Procedure,

Removed4. Deplores the continuous repression by the Venezuelan regime of opposition figures, including torture, enforced disappearances and killings; reiterates its firm and unconditional support for the Venezuelan people;

AddedA. whereas on 28 July 2024, a presidential election was held in Venezuela to choose a president for a six-year term beginning on 10 January 2025; whereas this election would have represented a unique opportunity to move from a corrupt autocracy towards a return to democracy if all the items of the Barbados Agreement had been respected;

Removed5. Requests the unconditional and immediate release of all the political prisoners unjustly and arbitrarily imprisoned by the Venezuelan regime;

AddedB. whereas Nicolás Maduro’s regime has continually harassed, persecuted and censored activists, journalists and civil society organisations in the midst of an ongoing socio-economic, political and humanitarian crisis marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, huge levels of corruption, crime and impunity, flagrant violations of human rights and high mortality rates, which have resulted in the mass emigration of more than 7.7 million Venezuelans seeking to escape the tyranny; whereas there are significant shortages in public services and it is increasingly difficult for Venezuelans to access food and medicines; whereas this crisis is one of the largest displacement crises in the world;

Removed6. Deplores Venezuela’s alignment with Russia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran and other dictatorial regimes;

AddedC. whereas for years, the use of politically motivated arbitrary detentions has been part of a policy of repression implemented by the Maduro regime and of a widespread and systematic attack against the population of Venezuela; whereas there have been systematic restrictions on public information, freedom of opinion and expression and the right to peaceful assembly, particularly for dissidents of the regime, trade unionists, human rights defenders and the most vulnerable members of society;

Removed7. Calls on the international community and for the EU, in particular the VP/HR, and the Member States to impose further targeted sanctions against those individuals from the Venezuelan regime and its proxies responsible for human rights violations against the Venezuelan people; calls for the EU to suspend all funds and projects destined for Venezuela; calls for the EU to freeze and confiscate, under a sound legal regime, all funds and economic resources on EU territory belonging to, owned, held or controlled by Nicolas Maduro or the Venezuelan state, or any other members of the Venezuelan regime responsible for human rights violations and electoral fraud;

AddedD. whereas on 17 October 2023 in Venezuela, representatives of the Maduro regime and the Unitary Platform opposition alliance signed two agreements, known as the Barbados Agreements, which cover matters including the promotion of political rights, electoral guarantees for all, respect for the right of each political actor to choose their candidate for the presidential elections freely, and the release of political prisoners; whereas these agreements covered important topics such as allowing international observers to participate in the electoral process; whereas the agreements were signed to serve as a first step to ensure free and fair elections in Venezuela; whereas political prisoners have not been not released, despite this being an explicit condition of the Barbados Agreement;

Removed8. Fully supports the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations into the extensive crimes and acts of repression perpetrated by the Venezuelan regime; urges the ICC prosecutor to act with diligence; calls for the EU to support the ICC States Parties’ initiative to open an investigation into crimes against humanity committed by the Maduro regime and its proxies, especially those committed by President Nicolás Maduro and Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, in order to hold them to account;

AddedE. whereas María Corina Machado was elected as the candidate of the opposition to the regime at the primaries of the Unitary Platform in 2023 with 92.35 % of the vote; whereas the Maduro regime disqualified her from standing for election on arbitrary and politically motivated grounds, in a flagrant breach of the Barbados Agreement; whereas the Maduro regime has disqualified several other opposition politicians over the years to prevent political change; whereas upon her disqualification, María Corina Machado maintained the unity of the democratic opposition to the regime by supporting a new candidate, Corina Yoris, who in turn was not authorised to register; whereas Edmundo González Urrutia was ultimately the candidate of the democratic opposition to the regime;

Removed9. 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 and the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States.

AddedF. whereas in the lead-up to the election, the regime tirelessly persecuted, abducted, arrested and imprisoned activists of the opposition and the campaign team of the opposition leader María Corina Machado and presidential candidate Edmundo González, and criminalised the work of lawyers, human rights defenders and civil society actors; whereas numerous electoral irregularities and violations were reported, including the disqualification of around 16 political parties, barriers to the registration of presidential candidates, short voter registration deadlines and a lack of registration offices, minimal public information, and obstruction of oversees voters; whereas according to the figures provided by the regime, only 69 211 Venezuelans living abroad were able to register to vote, although it is estimated that half of the 7.7 million Venezuelans living abroad are of voting age;

AddedG. whereas since 20 March 2024, six close collaborators of Vente Venezuela have sought refuge in the Argentinian embassy in Caracas, where they continue to face increasing pressure and harassment by the Venezuelan security forces;

AddedH. whereas on 28 May 2024, the regime-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) revoked the invitation sent to the EU to observe the election; whereas numerous international delegations that were invited by the democratic opposition to the regime, the Comando Nacional de Campaña Con VZLA, were denied entry into the country or expelled, including a delegation of members of a political group of the European Parliament and five Latin American former presidents;

AddedI. whereas the election on 28 July 2024 took place in a largely peaceful environment and the Venezuelan people turned out to vote in high numbers, demonstrating outstanding civic and democratic behaviour despite the constant efforts by the regime to thwart the electoral process; whereas numerous reports of restrictions on access to many polling stations for domestic observers and opposition party witnesses were recorded; whereas pressure on voters through check-points set up by the regime was also reported at numerous polling stations; whereas major irregularities were revealed on election night and the transmission of official vote count results from the polling stations to the CNE was interrupted when around 30 % of the electoral records (actas) were available;

AddedJ. whereas the few credible and independent observation missions that managed to observe the election – teams from the UN and the Carter Center – reported that ‘Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election did not meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic’, that they ‘cannot verify or corroborate the results of the election declared by the regime-controlled CNE’, and that ‘the electoral authority’s failure to announce disaggregated results by polling station constitutes a serious breach of electoral principles’; whereas the report of the UN panel of experts stated that the premature declaration of a winner ‘had no precedent in contemporary democratic elections’, and that the election process lacked ‘basic transparency and integrity’; whereas the election was neither free nor fair;

AddedK. whereas after voting closed, the regime-controlled CNE refused to publish the official record of tally sheets and falsified the results of the election, announcing the false victory of Maduro, which constitutes a serious breach of electoral principles; whereas this meant that the international community could not verify or corroborate the results announced by the CNE; whereas the CNE’s results management process therefore fell short of the basic transparency and integrity measures that are essential for holding credible elections;

AddedL. whereas the democratic opposition to the regime managed to obtain 83.5 % of the official tally sheets and has credibly demonstrated that the winner of the election was Edmundo González Urrutia, with 67.08 % of the votes cast; whereas the interim report of the UN Panel of Experts on the election confirms the authenticity of the documents published by the opposition;

AddedM. whereas the EU and other democratic countries and regional and international organisations have not recognised the election, its outcome or the authorities put in place by the illegitimate process; whereas the United States and several Latin American countries have recognised González as the winner of the election;

AddedN. whereas in the aftermath of the election, peaceful protests took place across the country to contest the fraudulent display by the Maduro regime; whereas these protests were met with extreme violence and repression, resulting in over 23 deaths and over 2 400 arrests and enforced disappearances, including of approximately 120 children;

AddedO. whereas María Corina Machado has been forced to go into hiding for fear of reprisals from the Maduro regime and Edmundo González Urrutia has been forced into exile after an arrest warrant was issued against him and serious threats were made to his life and that of his relatives; whereas the term of office of the Prosecutor General, Tarek William Saab, has expired in the meantime; whereas as early as 5 August 2024, a criminal investigation was opened in Venezuela against González and Machado for announcing an election winner other than Maduro and allegedly instigating disobedience and insurrection;

AddedP. whereas on 14 September 2024, the Venezuelan regime announced it had detained six foreign nationals, including three EU citizens (one Czech and two Spaniards), on the dubious grounds that they were plotting to ‘destabilise’ the country; whereas regime officials have formulated extremely serious and manifestly fictitious accusations of Spanish ‘interference’ through its national intelligence agency;

AddedQ. whereas in mid-August the Venezuelan regime expelled the diplomatic missions of seven Latin American nations – Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay – that had expressed concerns over the announced results;