Sec. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ANTIGOVERNMENT PROTESTS IN VENEZUELA AND THE NEED TO PREVENT FURTHER VIOLENCE IN VENEZUELA

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## SEC. 3 SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ANTIGOVERNMENT PROTESTS IN VENEZUELA AND THE NEED TO PREVENT FURTHER VIOLENCE IN VENEZUELA It is the sense of Congress that— ####

(1)the United States aspires to a mutually beneficial relationship with Venezuela based on respect for human rights and the rule of law and a functional and productive relationship on issues of public security, including counternarcotics and counterterrorism; ####

(2)the United States supports the people of Venezuela in their efforts to realize their full economic potential and to advance representative democracy, human rights, and the rule of law within their country; ####

(3)the chronic mismanagement by the Government of Venezuela of its economy has produced conditions of economic hardship and scarcity of basic goods and foodstuffs for the people of Venezuela; ####

(4)the failure of the Government of Venezuela to guarantee minimal standards of public security for its citizens has led the country to become one of the most violent and corrupt in the world; ####

(5)the Government of Venezuela continues to take steps to remove checks and balances on the executive, politicize the judiciary, undermine the independence of the legislature through use of executive decree powers, persecute and prosecute its political opponents, curtail freedom of the press, and limit the free expression of its citizens; ####

(6)Venezuelans, responding to ongoing economic hardship, high levels of crime and violence, and the lack of basic political rights and individual freedoms, have turned out in demonstrations in Caracas and throughout the country to protest the failure of the Government of Venezuela to protect the political and economic well-being of its citizens; and ####

(7)the repeated use of violence perpetrated by the National Guard and security personnel of Venezuela, as well as persons acting on behalf of the Government of Venezuela, against antigovernment protesters that began on February 4, 2014, is intolerable and the use of unprovoked violence by protesters is also a matter of serious concern.