What benefits does TPS offer for Venezuelans 2:05
Amanda Mattingly is a fellow with the Truman Homeland Security Project and a former foreign affairs official for the US Department of State. He worked at the US embassy in Caracas in 2002 and 2003. The opinions expressed in this column are exclusively his own. Read more opinion pieces at cnne.com/opinion.
(CNN) -
The decision by the United States Government to grant Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelans is a welcome step, and it took President Joe Biden to win the White House for it to become a reality.
Broad US economic sanctions on Venezuela and its expansion by former President Donald Trump, even as his administration refused to grant immigration status to Venezuelans who had fled their country, worsened an already devastating situation in Venezuela.
By extending TPS to Venezuelans who have been in the United States since at least March 8, the Biden administration granted them temporary legal status to live and work without fear of deportation.
Given the extraordinary humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, this status should have been granted years ago.
And it could have been, were it not for the Trump administration's tough immigration policies.
As former US ambassador to Venezuela Charles Shapiro told me, TPS "has been pending for a long time."
According to the United Nations, 5.4 million Venezuelans have fled their country for political and economic reasons.
Most have crossed the border into Colombia and Brazil, which are the ones who have borne the brunt of the mass exodus from the collapse of Venezuela under the command of dictator Nicolás Maduro, but many have also reached the United States.
Offering TPS to some 300,000 eligible Venezuelans here is an important humanitarian move by the United States, and it also fulfills a campaign promise made by Biden.
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But we shouldn't stop there.
The political, economic, and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, sparked by years of mismanagement and corruption under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, justifies a forceful response from the United States.
TPS should be just the first step in our efforts to help the Venezuelan people.
Reestablish America as a Democratic Leader
First of all, the Biden administration should focus on promoting democracy and reestablishing the United States as a democratic leader in the region.
Before the Trump administration, promoting and defending democracy were pillars of US foreign policy in Latin America and around the world.
The January 6 riots on Capitol Hill made it difficult for our diplomats to do this, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken has indicated, but returning to our own democratic principles at home, including the right to vote, will help us regain a role of leadership in promoting the principles of democracy and governance abroad.
Venezuela is a clear example of what happens to countries when democratically elected leaders do not govern democratically, when democratic institutions are destroyed, and when elections are no longer free or fair.
The Venezuelan opposition has spent years fighting for free and fair elections, while the Venezuelan people have been forced to cross borders to get food and medicine, and for fear of political persecution.
Corruption and bribery by the Maduro regime, supported by Venezuela's military and security services, have made it nearly impossible to achieve political change in the country.
The Biden government should work with its allies to find a solution to the crisis in Venezuela
The Biden government should start working again with its allies in Latin America and Europe to find a peaceful and democratic solution to the political and economic crisis in Venezuela.
The United States, working through the Lima Group and the Organization of American States, should lead efforts to achieve free and fair elections in Venezuela and a peaceful transfer of power.
Biden should also be prepared to withdraw blanket sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector if that means bringing Maduro to the negotiating table to reach an agreement that allows free and fair elections to take place.
So far, those blanket sanctions have hurt the Venezuelan people, not just the country's leaders, and failed to meet their goal of toppling Maduro.
The United States established sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector in January 2019, when opposition leader Juan Guaidó was on the rise and Trump's team believed Maduro would be quickly toppled.
But that did not happen.
While Guaidó mounted a courageous, for the most part peaceful, campaign against Maduro and won the support of the international community as Venezuela's legitimate interim leader, he has not yet been able to muster enough support from the military to force Maduro to leave. the power.
Meanwhile, Maduro and his cronies have been able to keep the government afloat with the support of Russia, China and Iran and by evading US oil sanctions, trying to sell their gold and, allegedly, trafficking drugs in the region.
Focused sanctions
Yes, the crisis in Venezuela began long before the United States applied sanctions to the oil sector, but these did not help the situation.
Instead, sanctions on Venezuela should be targeted and specific, targeting individuals close to Maduro and who finance him.
This includes Venezuelans in the Army, the security forces that protect Maduro, and state-owned companies that profit at the expense of the people of Venezuela.
Venezuelans who undermine democratic institutions, or who are associated with alleged human rights violations, should also face sanctions.
Defending human rights in Venezuela should also be one of the Biden administration's top priorities.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have denounced abuses by the Maduro regime.
Although the Government of Venezuela has denied those reports, defending democracy means defending human rights and the United States should do its part to hold Maduro accountable.
UN urges to withdraw sanctions against Venezuela 2:55
Venezuela's crisis is not going to be resolved overnight.
With 96% of Venezuelan households living in poverty today, it will take generations to reverse the degradation.
Of course, the coronavirus pandemic has only aggravated the situation in the last year.
The Biden administration should seek other ways to help the Venezuelan people receive the humanitarian assistance they need, including vaccines.
The good news is that there is bipartisan support in the United States to help the Venezuelan people.
Hopefully TPS is just the first step.
