Venezuelan Parliament Approves ‘Bolívar’ Law to Punish Endorsers of Economic Sanctions

Caracas, December 2, 2024 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan National Assembly (AN) has approved new legislation to punish political figures who support coercive measures against the country.

The “Liberator Simón Bolívar against the Imperialist Blockade” Organic Law was passed by the legislative body following its second discussion last Thursday. It was published in the National Gazette on Friday.

The 23-article law establishes that people who have promoted or requested sanctions against the Venezuelan people or its authorities will be barred from running for elected office. The ban can be as long as 60 years.

The bill goes on to state that support for economic aggression against the country could constitute grounds for prosecution, with 25 to 30-year prison sentences.

In addition, the Simón Bolívar law establishes fines of up to 1 million euros for figures found guilty of endorsing sanctions. The initiative also punishes the recognition of parallel state powers, promotion of violent plots and collaboration in the confiscation of Venezuelan assets abroad. The culprits might additionally face the 2023 Domain Extinction law that may lead to property seizures.

The legislation likewise contemplates fines and broadcasting license withdrawals for media outlets that promote “messages of propaganda” favoring punitive measures against Venezuela.

“The people’s clamor for the approval of this law represents a fight against impunity,” AN Deputy Carlos Mogollón said in an interview on Thursday. Mogollón added that the legal instrument allows for political figures who flee abroad to be tried in absentia.

“We cannot tolerate any aggression against the country,” the legislator said, adding that the law is an instrument to “strike back against sanctions that affect the Venezuelan people’s rights.”

President Nicolás Maduro signed and enacted the law during a public event on Friday, calling it a tool for “the defense of peace and sovereignty” in Venezuela.

The South American country’s parliament moved to draft and fast-track the legislation after rejecting the approval of the so-called BOLIVAR Act by the US House of Representatives earlier in November. 

The bipartisan law did not introduce any new restrictions against Venezuela, instead representing an effort to codify existing sanctions into law. Venezuelan parliamentarians likewise condemned the “BOLIVAR” acronym as an offense against Venezuela’s independence hero Simón Bolívar.

At the same time, the Venezuelan National Assembly’s Bolívar law has drawn criticism over fears that it could be used discretionally to target political opponents. Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, pointed at the text’s final article, which creates a registry of Venezuelan and foreign nationals with “reasonable grounds” for presumptive violations laid out in the law.

“These vague and ambiguous laws make their discretional application a tool to control dissent and persecute civil society activists and organizations,” she wrote on social media.

Washington has levied widespread unilateral sanctions against Venezuela in recent years as part of its regime-change efforts. In particular, the US Treasury Department has targeted multiple sectors of the Caribbean nation’s economy, particularly the heavily important oil industry.

Furthermore, banking sanctions have left the country unable to access credit and financial markets. In addition, the US and Western allies have blacklisted dozens of Venezuelan officials, leading to issues of overcompliance in which foreign agents and financial institutions refuse to deal with Venezuelan state entities out of fear of secondary sanctions.

Hardline US-backed opposition politicians have consistently lobbied for sanctions against the country while denying their documented consequences. Far-right leader María Corina Machado’s endorsement of sanctions was one of the reasons cited by the Venezuelan Supreme Court to uphold her existing ban on running for office in January.

Unilateral coercive measures have been roundly condemned by UN rapporteurs, multilateral organizations and human rights collectives. Opinion studies, including those carried by pro-opposition pollsters, have also found overwhelming rejection among Venezuelans.

Popular movements and Chavista political organizations have repeatedly denounced sanctions and undertaken mass demonstrations to reject them. Far-right figures have been blasted for calling for measures that affect Venezuelan living standards, including by moderate opposition factions.

Edited by Cira Pascual Marquina from Caracas.