Sec. 6. Support for Organization of American States Inter-American Democratic Charter
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Congress makes the following findings: Article 1 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, adopted by the Organization of American States in Lima on September 11, 2001, affirms, The peoples of the Americas have a right to democracy and their governments have an obligation to promote and defend it. . Article 19 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter states an unconstitutional interruption of the democratic order or an unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order in a member state, constitutes, while it persists, an insurmountable obstacle to its government’s participation in sessions of the General Assembly … and other bodies of the Organization. .
Article 20 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter provides— In the event of an unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order in a member state, any member state or the Secretary General may request the immediate convocation of the Permanent Council to undertake a collective assessment of the situation and to take such decisions as it deems appropriate. ; and The Permanent Council, depending on the situation, may undertake the necessary diplomatic initiatives, including good offices, to foster the restoration of democracy. .
It is the sense of Congress that— Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Venezuela have carried out systematic efforts to undermine, block, and circumvent the authorities and responsibilities of the Venezuelan National Assembly as mandated in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; such efforts by President Maduro and the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Venezuela amount to an unconstitutional alternation of the constitutional regime that seriously impairs the democratic order in Venezuela; and the Secretary of State, working through the United States Permanent Mission to the Organization of American States, should take additional steps to support ongoing efforts by Secretary General Luis Almagro— to invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter; to advance a collective assessment of the situation in Venezuela; and to promote diplomatic initiatives to foster the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.