Florida Republican legislators to Biden: "Giving Maduro the benefit of the doubt was not a good idea."

Republican lawmakers fromSouth Florida expressed their discontent with the Biden administration for its stance towards Nicolás Maduro's regime in Venezuela, guided by a willingness to engage in dialogue that, they said, fails with "tyrannies."

In a recent statement, Congress members Mario Díaz-Balart, María Elvira Salazar, and Carlos Giménez reaffirmed their commitment to urging the White House to support the legitimate leaders of the South American country.

Díaz-Balart emphasized the need for more decisive support: “We are going to press this administration to side with Venezuela and the legitimate leaders of Venezuela,” said the Republican according to Telemundo 51.

In a post on his social media, Díaz-Balart added: “We warned Biden that he was strengthening the regime,” referring to the negotiations and the Barbados Agreement that led to the current election results in Venezuela.

For Salazar, the Biden administration's trust in the Maduro regime was naïve and counterproductive for channeling the democratic change desires of Venezuelans through transparent elections.

"As Republicans, we always knew that giving the benefit of the doubt to the Maduro regime was not a good idea," he stated.

For his part, Giménez expressed his concern about the Venezuelan electoral process and the accusations from the Venezuelan attorney general against María Corina Machado for alleged electoral hacking.

"The ‘Barbados Agreement’, which the Unitary Platform of the opposition and the Maduro regime signed in October 2023, and which was facilitated by their administration with the relief of sanctions on Venezuela's lucrative gold and oil industries, was flagrantly violated by the Maduro regime by continuing to harass, intimidate, and imprison opposition members," stated the three Republican congressmen in the letter sent to Biden and his vice president Kamala Harris.

In the opinion of the legislators, "the negotiations that led to the agreement gave the Maduro regime valuable time (as often happens with 'dialogue' with tyrants) and deceived many into believing that the upcoming elections could be free and fair."

"It should be no surprise to anyone that the Maduro regime has not voluntarily handed over power and that yesterday's farce produced the only result a dictator would allow: the continuation of his brutal control of power," the Republicans stated in the letter, while demanding the swift implementation of strong sanctions against the Maduro regime, particularly against those responsible for the fraud.

"The Venezuelan people deserve more than the failed tyranny of Maduro's dictatorship, including a fair recount of their votes and an electoral process free from intimidation that allows elected candidates to be presented. It is shameful that the will of the Venezuelan people has not been respected throughout this fraudulent process. Until then, the only dialogue should be about how to facilitate the quick and absolute departure of Maduro," they concluded.