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Venezuela's Political Situation Discussed at U.S. Senate Hearing

By Venezuelanalysis.com

Washington, D.C. June 25 (Venezuelanalysis.com).- The State of Democracy in Venezuela was the subject of a hearing at the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held Thursday in Washington, DC. Venezuela has attracted interest from U.S. politicians as numerous allegations have been made against President Hugo Chavez and as a recall referendum on his mandate approaches.

Panelists during a hearing at the U.S. Senate on June 24th answered questions about Venezuela's current political situation.Credit: Jeremy Bigwood

The meeting was convened and chaired by Senator Norm Coleman (Democrat, Minnesota), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps and Narcotics. Senator Coleman had expressed an interest to "hear from the experts about the unfolding situation in Venezuela" and intended to "get to thebottom" of various allegations about Venezuela recently floating around in the international media at Thursday’s hearing.

The list of witnesses who testified at the hearing included many names familiar to those following the developments in Venezuela: Roger Noriega, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, John Maisto, U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, Miguel Diaz, Director, Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Dr. Jennifer McCoy, Director of the Americas Program at the Carter Center, Jose Miguel Vivanco, Executive Director, Americas Division of Human Rights Watch, Roger Tissot, Director of Markets and Countries Group, Latin America, PFC Energy and Dr. Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The hearing opened with commentary by Chairman Coleman,