; Whereas, starting in April 2017, Venezuelan citizens staged massive, nationwide protests for more than four months in direct opposition to President Maduro’s efforts to consolidate power and undermine Venezuela’s democracy; Whereas the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights reports that 124 deaths have been investigated by the Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office in connection with the 2017 protests, with at least 46 victims allegedly killed by security forces and 27 more by members of armed pro-government civilian groups, bringing the total number of extrajudicial deaths to 357 between July 2015 and March 2017; Whereas the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner concluded that there has been widespread and systematic use of excessive force and arbitrary detentions against demonstrators, as well as violent raids of homes, torture, and ill-treatment of those detained in connection with the protests; Whereas human rights organizations in Venezuela have identified more than 5,000 arbitrary detentions between April 1, 2017, and October 31, 2017, and at least 299 political prisoners currently detained; Whereas Amnesty International documented repeated use of various methods of arbitrary detention, including torture and forced disappearances intended to silence dissidents and limit freedom of expression; Whereas nongovernmental organizations Human Rights Watch and Foro Penal have documented how Venezuelan security forces have used tactics of torture, involving electric shocks and asphyxiation, against individuals who oppose the Government of Venezuela; Whereas the Government of Venezuela continues to use the Bolivarian National Guard and National Police to repress and detain protesters and subsequently try them in military courts with at least 198 documented cases against civilians in military courts