Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for attending to address this important topic. I am sure he will agree with me that the crisis unfolding in Venezuela over recent weeks has shocked many people with news reports of people rooting through bins to feed their children, a crisis in the availability, as well as a lack of, basic medical care and supplies, along with inflation of 1 million %. This is all in a country which has generated $320 billion in oil revenue in the past ten years.

Last year’s Venezuelan presidential election exposed and saw electoral fraud on a massive scale. This has been roundly condemned by the European Union and all international observers. We have seen serious human rights abuse reports with 8,000 extrajudicial killings in the past three years by the state security services, while thousands more have been detained without charge, trial or any due process. Many Venezuelans have been stranded abroad during the crisis, including many in Ireland, because their worsening situation has meant that they are able unable to renew their travel documents.

I would be grateful if the Minister could outline what steps the Government is taking about this serious situation, particularly in conjunction with the European Union, to bring about an end to this crisis and an improvement in the lives of ordinary people in Venezuela. Is the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade aware of Venezuelan citizens who may be stranded in Ireland and unable to return home?

Will the Minister of State agree with me that some political parties and Members of the Oireachtas have not covered themselves in glory on this issue? Many Members of this House spent much time raising human rights abuses in the context of the debate on the occupied territories Bill but have been curiously silent on this issue. The Minister of State will be aware that two senior members of Sinn Féin, including its general secretary, attended Mr. Maduro’s inauguration recently. It was Sinn Féin's connected organisation, the IRA, which committed 1,800 extrajudicial killings on this island that are still not condemned outright. In one way, we cannot be surprised that it has no objection to 8,000 extrajudicial killings committed by the Venezuelan regime.

It is not just Sinn Féin of course. Over the weekend, I heard Deputy Paul Murphy of the so-called Socialist Party say that the economic crisis in Venezuela was due to the fact that Mr. Maduro was not left wing enough. Even our President has joined this bandwagon in the past, I am sorry to say. He praised the former Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, for achieving "a great deal in his term in office, particularly in the area of social development and poverty reduction”. These policies are now the policies universally agreed to be the root cause of the current misery of the Venezuelan people. I do not say this to be nit-picking but because it is a serious subject. It highlights the bankrupt political ideology of many of the hard left. It does not seem to matter how many people suffer or die, so long as their left-wing experiment is protected at all costs.

I hope the Minister of State will agree with me that sentiments praising the Maduro regime do not represent the views of the Irish people. The Government has moved on this issue by recognising of the head of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaidó. Will the Minister of State endorse what two Venezuelan nationals living in Ireland, Kley Salinas and Liliana Fernandez, who said in an interview at the weekend that “Your body is here in Ireland but your mind is in Venezuela”, living in fear for those back home? We have to have in mind these days and show concern for the hundreds of Venezuelan nationals who have come to Ireland to live happy and productive lives but who are in great pain about the plight of their home country.