According to the Republican legislator, the resumption of the dialogue process with the United States, announced by the Nicolás Maduro regime on Monday, July 1, will only result in a greater establishment of the dictatorship in the South American country.
The resumption of negotiations was proposed by the United States, despite the sanctions reimposed in April against the Venezuelan oil sector, following the failure by the Chavista dictatorship to comply with the agreements signed in Qatar in 2023, by preventing, through political disqualification, the participation of opposition leader María Corina Machado in the presidential elections of July 28.
The first meeting between the United States and Venezuela is scheduled for Wednesday, July 10, less than a month before the presidential elections in which Maduro is seeking re-election for six more years.
The goal is to move forward with the fulfillment of these agreements, which included the holding of free and transparent elections in Venezuela and the exchange of some political prisoners in both countries. Among them, Washington freed the Colombian businessman, Alex Saab, accused of being a front man for Maduro; while Caracas freed 28 prisoners: 10 Americans and 18 Venezuelans.
The Cuban-American congressman expressed his concern about the vulnerability of democracy in Venezuela, as well as in other countries such as Cuba and Nicaragua, and stated that the model implemented by these anti-democratic forces represents a threat in the hemisphere.
Prior to coming to Congress in 2020, Gimenez served as mayor of Miami-Dade County for nearly ten years. He currently represents Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys.
According to Giménez, if anything comes out of this dialogue, it will be against the interests of the United States, democracy and the Venezuelan people.
“Nothing good will happen after these talks with Venezuela, what they will achieve is to further establish Maduro in power. That is why I have no faith in this administration, which has only rewarded the dictatorship that has remained in Venezuela for more than 25 years,” he said.
The legislator recalled that “from Congress we have demanded that President Joe Biden guarantee that free elections are held in Venezuela, as part of the defense of democracy in our hemisphere and around the world. However, I do not believe that it will help in that measure, because the administration (of Biden) has lifted certain sanctions against Venezuela with the promise that free and democratic elections would be held.
We have expressed that Venezuela represents a threat to democracy in the hemisphere, beginning with Cuba and continuing with Nicaragua.
Giménez was skeptical, considering that Maduro has taken it upon himself to control the elections.
“No matter what the result will be, in the end I think he will win, because it is his policy and it is his party that will be in charge of counting the votes, so I think he will declare himself the winner. In addition, the regime is not allowing the electoral process to be observed by bodies or people who are not from his party,” he warned.
A week after the United States decided to ease sanctions, the Venezuelan regime politically disqualified its main opponent, María Corina Machado, from participating, Giménez recalled, expressing his doubts that President Biden would take the necessary actions to guarantee a democratic solution in Venezuela.
The federal legislator believes that the Biden administration has proven to be quite weak in confronting the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro, by removing sanctions. The result has been disqualifications, persecution, repression and the fact that international observation was not allowed in one of the most important elections for Venezuela.
“If fraud is reported on July 28 in Venezuela by Nicolás Maduro, more sanctions should be put in place against his dictatorship and they should be much stronger in the face of this scenario.
Regarding the immigration policies that Joe Biden has implemented, Giménez says, they violate the law that states that all individuals from countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti, when they are asking for help in the United States, must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.
In many cases they do deserve help for political reasons, but in others I believe they should not be helped, such as people who have been released from prison and are part of gangs in Venezuela. That is what the immigration law says and I believe that President Biden is not complying with it, which is why the crisis has worsened.
@Lydr05
