Ask your Representative to: -Join 70 Reps demanding a human rights review of US aid to Honduras by May 21st -Vote NO on the House Venezuela sanctions bill up for vote as early as today Rather than charting a new path based on mutual respect in Latin America, the Obama Administration has stayed the path of Bush-era policies. In Honduras, the administration's support for the 2009 ouster of Manuel Zelaya paved the way to the grave human rights situation in the country today. Repression is reaching extreme levels - just last week, opposition LIBRE party legislators were teargassed by military police and forcibly evicted from the Legislative Assembly. (Watch the video.)

• “My name is _____.  I am a constituent from (town / city) in (your state).  I am calling to ask Congressperson  _____ to sign Rep. Jan Schakowsky's letter on Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Honduras.
• Has Representative ___ seen this letter?
• Can I count on him/her to sign on?
• Please call me this week at (_your phone number_) to let me know if you have seen the letter, and if Representative _____ will sign it.”

Venezuela: 1) Ask that s/he vote NO on HR 4587 the "Venezuelan Human Rights and Democracy Protection Act". The bill has already been approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and is expected to go to vote before the full House of Representatives as early as today. Educate yourself on the situation here. 2) Offer to send this background document to help educate your Congressperson on current events in Venezuela. Conversation or voicemail message script:

• "Furthermore I would like to ask Congressperson ____________ to vote NO on HR 4587 to enact targeted sanctions against Venezuela.
• As State Department officials (like the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Roberta Jacobson) and independent analysts have noted, sanctions would be counterproductive as they would undermine regional efforts to achieve peace and dialogue and would escalate tensions between the US and Venezuela, distracting from Venezuela's pressing internal problems.
• This legislation ignores the well-documented fact that the political violence is not one-sided.  In fact, reports indicate that protesters themselves are responsible for many of the 44 deaths that have occurred so far.  Motorcyclists have been killed by wires strung up by protesters, civilians and state security agents have been shot dead while trying to clear protesters' road blockades.
• The principal leaders of the protests have failed to condemn the violence carried out by protesters and have called for their supporters to take to the streets to try to force the departure of the Maduro government, despite the fact that it won free and fair elections just last year.
• What is the Congressperson's position regarding this upcoming legislation?
• Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation circulating regarding the protests. I would be happy to send you factual information regarding the serious situation in Venezuela."

Click here to download this background document to email to your Rep's foreign policy aide.