The US Senate has passed legislation that would direct President Barack Obama to levy sanctions against Venezuelan government officials or others accused of perpetrating acts of violence or human rights abuses of anti-government demonstrators.

The bill, passed in a voice vote on Monday, authorizes sanctions that would freeze the assets and ban visas of individuals involved in violating the human rights of those opposing the South American country’s socialist government. During the summer, the State Department imposed a travel ban on Venezuelan officials accused of abuses during a months-long street protest movement in the winter and spring that left dozens of people dead.

“For too long, Venezuelans have faced state-sponsored violence at the hands of government security forces and watched their country’s judiciary become a tool of political repression,” said Robert Menendez, a Democratic senator and chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee and the author of the bipartisan Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act.

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