North Miami-Dade News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) joined Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Peter Welch (D-VT), Rick Scott (R-FL), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tim Scott (R-SC), and fellow Reps. Carlos Giménez (R-FL), Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) in issuing the following statement in response to Nicolás Maduro’s attempts to steal the Venezuelan presidential election:

“To no one’s surprise, dictator Nicolás Maduro has once again stolen a presidential election. However, what the narco-regime will never steal is the Venezuelan people’s desire to return to democracy and live in freedom after decades of tyranny. We must prioritize uniting the free world in rejecting these sham election results and securing the release of the more than 300 Venezuelans that remain arbitrarily detained in torture centers as political prisoners.

“The Maduro dictatorship is experiencing an internal fracture, and members of the dictatorship know their status quo, which is filled with incompetence, is no longer sustainable. There is massive discontent in the streets of Venezuela, and everyday citizens have stood in support of opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez. Let there be no doubt: the countries and international organizations backing this fraud of unimaginable proportions must be held accountable, as should members of the narco-regime and its ‘National Electoral Council’.”

For the last year, Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman Salazar has been sounding the alarm on the Maduro regime’s tactics to impede a free and fair presidential election in Venezuela for 2024. Chairwoman Salazar urges the Biden Administration to take decisive action and unite an international coalition to reject the fraudulent election results and recognize Edmundo González Urrutia as the true winner.

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