Senate Resolution on Venezuela

The Senate introduced a bipartisan resolution on Venezuela calling for elections. Ted Cruz and Tim Kaine are both on it. It is spot on. It calls for:

1. The "interim authorities" (definitely not using "government" though also not "regime") to immediately call for elections

2. Release of all political prisoners

3. Condemns any effort to go after people seeking public office, naming María Corina Machado

Currently, neither the Trump administration nor the Venezuelan regime want elections. Marco Rubio gets cagy about it when asked, saying it will take many months and citing Paraguay of all places. Therefore the U.S. Congress has an opportunity to push them publicly. The Venezuelan people clearly want democratic elections.

Rubio also had this nugget:

"They're not inheriting a disaster. They're not inheriting a reconstruction process. They're inheriting a functional state," he said, adding that the direction of the transition was positive even if the pace was not.

It's not a disaster? Yeah, it's a disaster that involves significant reconstruction. Sure, it's not Haiti, but that's a low bar. 

What I also like about the resolution is that it doesn't mention the earthquake, which is becoming an excuse. Building a credible electoral authority is going to be a challenge, and even more so given the infrastructure that's been destroyed, but it's doable.