The National Assembly (Parliament) of Venezuela will continue today the second discussion of the Simón Bolívar Liberator Organic Bill against the imperialist blockade and in defence of the Bolivarian Republic.

This debate will take place 48 hours after the legislators approved seven of the 18 articles in the document and it is expected that this Thursday the legal instrument will be definitively sanctioned.

The law was passed in response to the Bolivar Law proposal approved on 17 November by the House of Representatives of the United States, which was rejected by the authorities and the majority of the Venezuelan people.

Among its new features, it proposes the lifetime political disqualification of persons who «aid and ally with foreign agents to impose unilateral coercive measures on the Venezuelan people».

It also contemplates the application of the Law of Extension of Dominion for all those who promote, participate in, disseminate or advocate the application of sanctions against the country, as well as an aggravating circumstance in the crime of treason.

During last week’s explanatory statement, MP Carlos Mogollón explained that the law was created as a legal instrument to address sanctions that violate human rights and other guarantees, as well as being contrary to international law and the UN Charter.

The deputy for the United Socialist Party, Iris Varela, said during the debates of the first discussion, which received the unanimous support of the parliamentarians, that this is a long-awaited and longed-for regulation by the Venezuelan people.

She pointed out that «the mechanisms of justice have been elusive in making amends for the damage that certain stateless people have done to the people and the Republic».

Varela affirmed that the National Assembly feels privileged to be able to initiate this debate and give this legal instrument to the public, in order to «do justice and respect the republican values for which the liberators shed their blood.»

Last Monday, President Nicolás Maduro considered the initiative taken by the legislators «to create from Venezuela – the birthplace of the Liberator – a law of liberation and justice», which he considered to be «the true Liberator Bolívar Law».

The first article of the draft Organic Law states that its purpose is to «protect the people against the actions of natural or legal persons, whether national or foreign, who promote, invoke, support or participate in the imposition of unilateral coercive measures and other restrictive or punitive measures».