Dear John,

There is finally movement in Congress on lifting the Venezuela sanctions! A group of Representatives is sending a letter to President Biden, urging him to “to lift all U.S. financial and sectoral sanctions that exacerbate the humanitarian situation” in Venezuela. Over 100,000 Venezuelans are estimated to have been killed by the sanctions.  

The Economist recently reported that envoys from the Biden and Maduro administrations are set to meet in Trinidad to continue discussions that began in early March. The White House faced backlash from the right - and even from Florida Democrats - for meeting with the Venezuelan government in the first place. The Biden administration will definitely need support from the public and from Congress if they are to lift the sanctions on Venezuela.

Contact your Representative and ask them to sign on to the letter to President Biden about Venezuela!

The letter is being led by Representative Chuy García. Current signers include Representatives Grijalva, Holmes Norton, Huffman, McGovern, Omar, Pressley, Schakowsky, Vargas, Jayapal and Blumenauer. The deadline for signing is Wednesday, May 4th. We need to make a big push today and tomorrow to get more signatures. 

Sending your Representative an email with the tools we provide is great. Taking the next step and calling their office would be even better. We’ll provide you with their phone number and a sample script - it’s just as easy as it sounds!

Click here to contact your Representative and ask them to support lifting the sanctions on Venezuela! 

There are many promising signs coming out of Venezuela. Dialogue between the government and opposition restarted. Inflation fell to single digits and the economy is growing - Credit Suisse even predicts 20% growth in 2022! But things won’t go back to normal until the sanctions are lifted and the U.S. government recognizes President Maduro as the legitimately elected leader. Supporting this letter is the next step in that struggle - let’s try to get more Representatives to sign on!

In radical solidarity,
Leonardo, Michelle, Teri, Medea and the entire CODEPINK team

P.S. This Congressional letter recognizes that sanctions have not only severely harmed the economy, but that they disproportionately harm women and girls. Working with DSA, we’ve invited three Venezuelan feminists to tour seven cities in the U.S. and testify about the impacts of sanctions on civilians. You can learn more about the women who are coming and help raise funds for the tour by clicking here.