The US lower house approved the Bolívar Law

The United States House of Representatives passed a bill backed by Republicans and Democrats which complements the regulations that prohibit the United States government from hiring people who have commercial ties with the “illegitimate government of Nicolás Maduro” in Venezuela.

The so-called Bolívar Law, officially the Law for the Prohibition of Operations and Leases with the Illegitimate Authoritarian Regime of Venezuela, which must now be approved by the Senate, also establishes the same prohibition for “any successor government of (Maduro) in Venezuela that is not recognized.” as legitimate by the United States.

The United States government does not recognize the Maduro regime but it has done so with the opponent Edmundo González Urrutia, whom it considers the winner of the last presidential elections in Venezuela last July.

The law was presented by two Florida representatives, Republican Mike Waltz and Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who consider, in the former’s words, that The United States must “maintain existing sanctions against the regime and seek to expand them to minimize Maduro’s resources to abuse the freedoms and prosperity of the Venezuelan people.

«This legislation sends a clear and powerful message to Maduroas well as other dictators around the world, that there will be no appeasement, there will be no tolerance, there will be no reward for their illegal and dishonest actions,” Waltz said in a statement.

Wasserman Schultz spoke in the same vein: “I am proud to help lead this bipartisan legislation that will cut off Maduro’s support network and send a clear message that Americans will not tolerate undemocratic repression and we certainly will not subsidize it.”

“Unless the United States gets rid of the shady corporate interests that enable Maduro’s corruption and electoral theft, we cannot truly say that we are committed to the Venezuelan people,” the congresswoman said.

Waltz stressed that «Maduro and his cronies have mocked and ignored the electoral will of the Venezuelan peopleinciting violent actions against the democratic opposition.

He was thus referring to the elections of July 28 and the proclamation of Maduro as the winner by the National Electoral Council, questioned by the opposition which, based on the data from the voting records, affirms that its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia , was the one chosen by the electorate.

The congressman stressed that American policy “must be based on solidarity with the brave activists who strive to break the chains of oppression and not provide aid and comfort to their oppressors.”

Waltz concluded with a message to the Senate to “quickly pass this important bill and send it to the President’s desk for his signature.”

The project of Waltz and Wasserman Schultz was also promoted by congressmen María Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez and Mario Díaz-Balart, all three of Cuban origin and Republicans, and Jennifer González-Colón, representative of Puerto Rico, among others.

The future Secretary of State of Donald Trump’s government, Senator Marco Rubio, has supported similar legislation in past legislatures.