Illinois congressman: Relaxed oil sanctions embolden ‘fraudulent’ Venezuelan dictator

An Illinois congressman is pointing out that the U.S. president relaxing oil sanctions on countries such as Venezuela only benefits powerful dictators.

The United States Secretary of State’s office says there are “serious concerns” regarding the fraudulent activity surrounding the recent Venezuela election. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is claiming victory. He’s been in office since 2013.

Maduro says he got over 5 million votes while his opponent got 4.4 million. However, exit polling showed he had support from only 14% to 31% of the vote.

Illinois U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, said there was clearly fraudulent activity in Sunday’s election.

"I don’t think the Biden administration loosening the oil sanctions made the right decision there, he cannot be trusted. I can’t get into classified information but Maduro cannot be trusted. He is directly aligned with our adversaries across the globe whether that’s Iran, Russia, China, North Korea. He is a dictator and authoritarian,” LaHood said.

LaHood, like former President Donald Trump and the FBI, explained that some Venezuelan criminals have migrated to the U.S. LaHood said that under the current Biden-Harris administration illegal immigration of criminals has been allowed.

“They have opened up their prisons and mental wards to allow people to come through our southern border from Venezuela. We see it in Illinois. You can go see many of the illegal immigrants that have come to this country,” said LaHood. “Illinois and Chicago are now a border state and city. I worry about the criminals that have come from places like Venezuela that have come across the unmitigated disaster which is our southern border.”

The FBI acknowledges some Venezuelan criminals have crossed but they say there’s no indication they were purposefully released from prison to come to this country.

LaHood explained President Joe Biden reducing the oil sanctions on Venezuela gives Maduro the opportunity to become wealthier.

"Kind of like what Biden did in Iran,” he said. “Trump weakened Iran, and then Biden got in and relaxed the sanctions on oil and now Iran has billions of dollars and they are exercising that in malign activities. Whether that's the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon or whether that’s the Iran proxies in Iraq right now. Similarly, in Venezuela that’s what you’re doing by loosening those sanctions is giving Maduro more money to try and hurt the United States.”

Venezuela is in chaos after Maduro was announced the winner of this weekend's presidential election despite claims from the opposition that Maduro's government interfered in the results.

Maduro met Venezuelan protests with force and as a result people have died. LaHood said Venezuelans understand the consequences of Maduro staying in power.

"I look to my colleagues in south Florida who represent large populations of Venezuelans who have come here legally and they understand the consequences of Maduro staying in power,” said LaHood.

Most Venezuelans live in poverty despite massive oil reserves. Millions have left since Maduro came to power after Hugo Rafael Chávez died. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for tighter sanctions.