President Nicolás Maduro attempts to keep foreign aid out of Venezuela
Ret. Lt. Col. Allen West says the United Nations should be ready to send forces into Venezuela with aid to ensure their citizens don’t starve to death.
FIRST ON FOX: A group of top Senate Republican leaders is urging President Biden to block oil sanctions relief for the Venezuelan government, an authoritarian regime which continues to oppress its opponents.
The seven lawmakers, led by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, sent a letter to the president Friday, calling on him to cancel the so-called General License 44, which is set to come up for renewal later this week. They argued that Venezuela's government has failed to meet key requirements related to ensuring fair elections that it agreed to when the Biden administration issued the six-month license last year.
"History has proven time and time again that appeasing dictators does not work. We strongly urge you to reinstate and fully enforce all U.S. sanctions on the [Nicolás] Maduro regime," they wrote. "We must not cede American leverage by lifting U.S. sanctions while the Maduro government deliberately disregards its obligations."
"If the U.S. fails to take a credible stance on ensuring free and fair elections are held in Venezuela, the prospects of a democratic Venezuela will continue to diminish, which will further embolden authoritarian aggressors such as the People’s Republic of China, Iran, and Russia," the lawmakers continued.
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Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks at a hearing on Feb. 3, 2021. (Brandon Bell-Pool/Getty Images)
In 2019, the Trump administration imposed heavy sanctions on the nation's oil industry after a dispute arose between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido over the 2018 presidential election. Those sanctions led to a precipitous fall off in U.S. imports of Venezuelan oil.
In a statement on Tuesday to Fox News Digital, Sullivan, who serves as the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee, expressed deep concern with Biden – both potentially for maintaining sanctions relief for Venezuela and recent actions his administration has taken to curb domestic production.
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"Joe Biden needs to wake the hell up and stop appeasing dictators and the eco-colonialists – fast," he said. "The world is on fire and Biden is still focused on appeasing his most far-left radical supporters at the expense of America’s national security."
Sullivan noted that the Department of the Interior is expected to soon finalize regulations blocking off 13 million acres of land across the National Petroleum Reserve, an area in North Slope Borough, Alaska, set aside by Congress for resource development. Bloomberg reported last week the agency is expected to finalize those rules this week.
Oil pipelines stretch across the landscape outside Nuiqsut, Alaska, where ConocoPhillips operates the Alpine Field on May 28, 2019. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Calls placed to The White House were not returned at press time.
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Joining Sullivan in penning the letter to Biden were Republican Sens. James Risch of Idaho, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida.
Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
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