Dear John,
As you may know, for years now, Venezuela has been in the midst of a political and human rights crisis. The political chaos has meant that free and fair presidential elections have not been held and honored in the country for more than a decade.
In 2019, the U.S. government imposed strict sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, greatly restricting it from selling to its traditional chosen markets, including the US market, after what it considered sham elections. Already reeling with a humanitarian emergency, these sanctions further impacted the country’s economy. The deepening of the humanitarian crisis dramatically increased the number of Venezuelans who were going hungry, had no access to medicines, lost their homes, or have made the perilous immigration journey towards the United States and to other countries in the region.
WOLA has always maintained that the best way to uphold human rights in Venezuela is for the political system to return to one of democratic elections and governance.
After years of negotiations that involved many parties, as well as the unwavering advocacy efforts of WOLA and other organizations, Venezuelans went to the polls on Sunday to elect someone to challenge the current undemocratic status quo.
And, because Venezuela’s political opposition and the government signed an agreement, the U.S. removed important sanctions on the country’s economy, including the oil industry. We hope that this will help ease the economic crisis in the country so that Venezuelans will have increased access to the basic necessities that they need to live a life of health and prosperity. WOLA will continue calling on the Venezuelan government to respect the right of its people to free and fair elections.
This is only a first step, but it’s an important one. WOLA welcomes this initial victory for democracy in Venezuela and we hope you will, too. It is your support of our advocacy work that makes a success story email like this one possible for me to write. Thank you!
We will keep you up to date as the diplomatic negotiations unfold, and please be sure to follow our blog for all the details on our advocacy work.
Thank you for helping to make this small, but important, success for human rights in Venezuela possible.
With gratitude,
