U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Shalala, South Florida Democrats with many Venezuelan constituents, visited the Colombian-Venezuelan border over the weekend.
They said they were there to get a first-hand view of the humanitarian and public health crisis faced by Venezuelans under the crumbling and corrupt regime of President Nicolas Maduro.
"Maduro is starving his people. Venezuelans have been in the dark for days. And children are dying of preventable diseases," Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. "We are here to make sure the Venezuelan people know that Democrats and Republicans in the United States are united in bringing humanitarian aid into Venezuela, standing behind interim President Juan Guaido, and pressing for fair and free elections for its people."
Wasserman Schultz's Broward/Miami-Dade county district includes Weston, which his home to a large Venezuelan community.
On Twitter, Wasserman Schultz described visiting a hospital in Colombia that has seen an influx of patients from Venezuela.
She said a mother crossed the border to give birth in Colombia "because there wasn't sufficient medical support in Venezuela, and being unable to return home due to border closures. A man told us about losing his eye while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid."
Shalala said the congresswomen heard "heartbreaking stories of friends and family members dying of starvation and treatable diseases, all while a brutal dictator does everything possible to prevent aid from being delivered."
On Saturday they visited with Ivan Duque, the president of Colombia, and local health and aid officials. On Sunday they inspected Tienditas Bridge, which crosses the Colombian-Venezuelan border where Maduro's government has blocked humanitarian aid from entering his country.
Now back in South Florida, the congresswomen plan to meet Monday with members of the Venezuelan community and describe their trip more fully at an news conference.U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who has previously visited the Colombian-Venezuelan border, has encouraged President Donald Trump's increasingly anti-Maduro posture.
Monday on Twitter, Rubio wrote that "armed gangs are what the #MaduroRegime increasingly relies on to suppress & terrorize people in #Venezuela," and said that "Because of the #MaduroCrimeFamily #Venezuela is truly on the verge of collapse."
Democrats like Wasserman Schultz and Shalala have been similarly tough on Maduro, and they don't want to give Republicans any advantage in Florida, which awards 29 electoral votes, during the 2020 presidential election.
