Bill Text: FL S0398 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Venezuelan Sanctions
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-03-08 - Died in Messages [S0398 Detail]
Download: Florida-2024-S0398-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2024 SM 398 By Senator Avila 39-00738A-24 2024398__ 1 Senate Memorial 2 A memorial to urge the United States Secretary of 3 State to implement policies at the United States 4 Department of State that reinstate economic sanctions 5 on Nicolás Maduro and his Venezuelan dictatorship and 6 impose sanctions on companies that do business with 7 Venezuela. 8 9 WHEREAS, beginning in 2008, the United States imposed 10 sanctions on the Venezuelan regime as Hugo Chávez began 11 expropriating oil assets of companies including Exxon Mobil and, 12 in 2017, the Trump administration placed economic sanctions on 13 the Venezuelan dictatorship, targeting the state-owned oil and 14 natural gas company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), and 15 WHEREAS, on January 28, 2019, the United States Department 16 of the Treasury, pursuant to Emergency Order 13850, designated 17 PDVSA as operating in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy, 18 and the Secretary of the Treasury determined that the company 19 was subject to United States sanctions that included the 20 freezing of all property and interests subject to the United 21 States’ jurisdiction, whose value was estimated at $7 billion, 22 and prohibited individuals and companies in the United States 23 from doing business with PDVSA, including exporting naphtha, and 24 WHEREAS, in February 2019, Nicolás Maduro ordered PDVSA to 25 move its European office to Moscow to protect the company’s 26 overseas assets from United States sanctions, and 27 WHEREAS, on February 18, 2020, the Office of Foreign Assets 28 Control of the United States Department of the Treasury 29 designated Rosneft Oil Company’s Swiss-incorporated company, 30 Rosneft Trading S.A., as operating in the oil sector of 31 Venezuela for brokering the sale and transport of Venezuelan 32 crude oil and supporting Nicolás Maduro’s regime, and 33 WHEREAS, continuing through 2021, the United States has 34 sanctioned Venezuela’s Central Bank, National Development Bank, 35 and Minerven, the state-owned gold company, as well as 36 individuals that assisted PDVSA in evading sanctions, and 37 WHEREAS, the Biden administration has eased sanctions on 38 companies that trade in oil produced in Venezuela or invest in 39 the country’s oil industry in response to Venezuela’s agreement 40 to allow free elections in 2024, and 41 WHEREAS, this misguided change in policy lessened the 42 impact of longstanding sanctions aimed at promoting freedom and 43 democracy in Venezuela and could increase the flow of Venezuelan 44 oil into the global crude market, but is not expected to help 45 lower the prices that have remained stubbornly high amid turmoil 46 in Europe and the Middle East, and 47 WHEREAS, on October 18, 2023, the sanctions on the export 48 of crude oil and refined petroleum were lifted for a period of 6 49 months, and Minerven is authorized to conduct transactions that, 50 unfortunately, will provide revenue to the Maduro regime which 51 it can use to stay in power and spread terror and corruption 52 around the globe, and 53 WHEREAS, decades of corruption and mismanagement at PDVSA 54 have resulted in a rusted drilling infrastructure that is 55 pumping less than a third of the 3 million barrels a day that 56 Venezuela produced during its peak production in the early 57 2000s, and 58 WHEREAS, on October 30, 2023, the Maduro-aligned Venezuelan 59 Supreme Court suspended the opposition’s entire primary 60 elections process, including the election results, and ordered 61 organizers to hand over documents identifying millions of voters 62 after the opposition’s primary election garnered more support 63 than expected, leading many in the United States Congress to 64 support the reinstatement of sanctions on the Venezuelan 65 dictatorship, NOW, THEREFORE, 66 67 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 68 69 That the United States Secretary of State is urged to 70 implement policies at the United States Department of State that 71 reinstate economic sanctions on Nicolás Maduro and his 72 Venezuelan dictatorship and impose sanctions on companies that 73 do business with Venezuela. 74 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State dispatch 75 copies of this memorial to the President of the United States, 76 the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the 77 United States House of Representatives, the United States 78 Secretary of State, and each member of the Florida delegation to 79 the United States Congress.