Whereas there is no separation of powers or independent institutions in Venezuela and President Maduro controls the Presidency, a majority of the municipalities, the Supreme Court, the military leadership, and the leadership of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA); Whereas Venezuela’s National Electoral Council postponed elections for governors and mayors scheduled for December 2016 and has not set a date to reschedule elections; Whereas there have been several attempts at dialogue between President Maduro and the opposition over the past year, which have all failed to achieve results; Whereas a political solution is the way to provide sustainable change for the Venezuelan people, but the dialogues up until now have helped provide Maduro a lifeline while his government is collapsing; Whereas the Venezuelan government continues to silence its citizens through political arrests, with more than 100 political prisoners currently in jail, including opposition leader Leopoldo López; Whereas Joshua Holt, a United States citizen, remains imprisoned in Venezuela awaiting a trial, with five postponed hearings to date; Whereas police and military raids have led to widespread allegations of abuse, including extrajudicial killings, mass arbitrary detentions, torture in prisons, forced evictions, and arbitrary deportations; Whereas Venezuela is immersed in a deep economic crisis, with the highest inflation in the world and current inflation estimated to top roughly 1,600 percent in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund; Whereas in July 2016, President Maduro handed over control of the food supply system to the military, which has enabled corruption, fraud, and food trafficking by the military contributing to food shortages, a scarcity of basic goods, and political discrimination in the distribution of food and basic goods