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Thursday 4 april 2019

14 U.S. senators introduce bill on the crisis in Venezuela

By LUIS ALONSO LUGO for crime control; urge the Menendez told reporters
Associated Press Trump administration to in a conference call that
WASHINGTON (AP) — A provide up to $150 million he is optimistic about the
bipartisan group of 14 U.S. in humanitarian aid; and prospects for the bill in the
senators introduced a bill require the State Depart- Senate, citing backing
Wednesday that they say ment and intelligence from Sen. James Risch, an
will help restore democ- agencies to provide an as- Idaho Republican who is
racy and address the hu- sessment of the threat from chairman of the Foreign
manitarian crisis in Venezu- Russian influence in the Relations Committee. He
ela. South American country. said Risch voiced support
Sen Bob Menendez, a The Senate bill would ac- for the measure as long as
Democrat from New Jer- celerate planning at in- Menendez and Republican
sey, said the proposed ternational financial in- Sen Marco Rubio of Florida
legislation is “much more stitutions for Venezuela’s remain among its sponsors.
expansive” than the three reconstruction, authorize The 14 senators introduced
bills on Venezuela adopt- $400 million in new humani- Residents collect water from a ditch next to a highway in their bill one day after over
ed last week by the House tarian assistance and for- Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 2, 2019. 40 organizations sent letters
of Representatives with bi- mally recognize and sup- Associated Press to members of Congress
partisan support. port efforts by Venezuelan ezuelans not involved in as part of a campaign to urging support for dialogue
The House bills would add opposition leader Juan human rights abuse if they force Maduro to turn over to resolve the crisis in Ven-
new restrictions on the ex- Guaidó to restore democ- recognize Guaidó as the power to Guaidó. ezuela and opposing the
port of tear gas, riot gear racy. country’s interim president, The Senate proposal does sanctions imposed by the
and other items to Ven- It also would remove sanc- something the U.S. and not include the “all op- Trump administration.
ezuela that could be used tions on designated Ven- about 50 other govern- tions are on the table” lan- “We call on you to take a
ments have done. They guage used by the White strong, public stand against
contend Nicolas Maduro’s House when referring to these immoral, reckless,
re-election as president last its Venezuela policy, even and illegal policies and to
year was not legitimate. though U.S. officials have support efforts to advance
The U.S. has revoked doz- said Washington is not pur- peaceful dialogue, be-
ens of visas and imposed suing a military option at fore it is too late,” the letter
multiple rounds of sanctions this time. said.q

Bill introduced to help publishers

bargain with tech giants

NEW YORK (AP) — News
publishers would gain
greater power to negotiate
terms with Facebook and
Google under terms of a
bill filed Wednesday in the
House of Representatives.
The proposal aims to give
newspaper and digital
publishers who have been
struggling financially the
right to bargain collectively
with the tech giants. The
publishing group says rev-
enue has plummeted by
$31 billion since 2006, due
primarily to the disappear- The Dome of the U.S. Capitol Building is visible as cherry blossom
ance of advertising. trees bloom on the West Lawn, Saturday, March 30, 2019, in
Publishers are more opti- Washington. Associated Press
mistic about the legislation,
which has failed in the past, tisan support. Congress in greater interest in the tech
because it now has bipar- general has been taking a giants’ operations.q