Lawmakers from Venezuela’s socialist regime passed a law on Thursday to heavily punish individuals that call for international human right sanctions against the authoritarian regime with 30 years prison time and a 60-year ban from running for public office positions.
The law, named, “The Simón Bolívar Liberator Organic Law against the Imperialist Blockade and in Defense of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” will also impose a fine of over $1 million to individuals subject to punishment by the law.
Media outlets that spread any kind of messaging calling for sanctions against the Maduro regime will receive a similar fine and a potential ban from the country. Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro is expected to sign the law in the coming days.
The United States, the European Union, and other nations have imposed human rights sanctions on Maduro, other high-ranking members of his socialist regime, and state-owned companies in response to continued human rights violations committed by the rogue regime against its own people. Maduro claims that his regime has been the “victim” of over 900 sanctions, many of which were issued by the United States.
The socialist dictator and other members of his top brass repeatedly insist that the sanctions — especially those imposed by President-elect Donald Trump against the state-oil company PDVSA in 2019 during Trump’s first term — are the cause of the collapse of Venezuela’s economy even though in reality his celebrated “socialism of the 21st century” had begun decaying the nation several years before any kind of sanctions were imposed.
The law reportedly defines international sanctions against the socialist regime as “crimes against humanity.” Additionally, the law contains provisions to define questioning the legitimacy of the regime or the “recognition of investments to subjects that pretend to represent the public power” as “actions that put sovereignty at risk.”
The provisions come four months after the fraudulent July 28 presidential election, which Maduro insists he “won” and whose “official results” have been called into question by the Venezuelan opposition and much of the international community, including the United States.
The law will also impose a ban on running for public office on those who have “promoted, instigated, requested, invoked, favored, supported or participated in the adoption or execution of armed actions or force, as well as cyber attacks against the country, its institutions or authorities.”
The soon-to-be signed law also contemplates the creation of a national registry of individuals suspected of potentially participating in said anti-regime actions. Individuals included on the prospective list will reportedly be at risk of having their assets frozen, being banned from buying or selling them and, in the case of foreigners, being banned from the country and subjected to an “extinction of dominion,” allowing the socialist regime to confiscate their assets in Venezuelan territory. Local media reported that those accused of infringing the law can be tried in absentia if needed.
Jorge Rodríguez, the head of the Maduro loyalists-stacked National Assembly, warned that the law will punish those who he described as “traitors to the fatherland” and those who call for sanctions against the rogue socialist regime.
“We bring you the law that punishes traitors to the fatherland, we bring you the law that punishes foreigners who try to sully the sacred name of Simón Bolívar and the liberators of America, we bring you the law that punishes those who request sanctions, invasions,” Rodríguez said on Thursday shortly after the law was passed.
Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro praised the law on Thursday evening during the latest edition of his podcast Maduro Suddenly Live, one of the dictator’s several state media shows. Maduro claimed that, if the United States “reinforces its march” against Venezuela, then his regime will respond in kind to “do good to the people, protect the people, strengthen the institutionality.”
“It is a progressive law, an advanced law, a law in defense of Venezuela, it is a law to end impunity, it is a necessary law,” Maduro said.
Venezuelan socialist lawmakers passed the law hours after the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on 21 regime-linked individuals due to their involvement in the regime’s brutal crackdown of dissidents and protesters following the sham July 28 election.
The list includes members of the Bolivarian National Guard, Bolivarian National Police, SEBIN intelligence agency, the DGCIM Military Intelligence General Directorate, and other regime officials. Maduro announced on Wednesday that he would instead create a new award to decorate the recently sanctioned individuals.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
