Luis Almagro, the head of the Organization of American States (OAS), told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee Wednesday that Venezuela was “the most corrupt country on the continent” and called for further sanctions to weaken the “illegitimate” socialist regime there.

“Over the last month, the regime in Venezuela has buried democracy, the separation of powers, justice, civil guarantees, political, economic and social rights, as well as the principles that constitute a legitimate government,” Almagro told the senators, urging further sanctions on the government and lamenting that the OAS “is the only multilateral forum that has taken action against the dictatorship in Venezuela.”

Despite the increasingly dire economic and political situation in Venezuela, the United Nations has not taken action to sanction or condemn the region. American ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley scolded the Human Rights Council last month for taking no action on Venezuela, a member of that council, while showing a “chronic bias” against Israel, the only functioning democracy in the Middle East.

In his written remarks, Almagro noted that nearly one hundred have died in protests since April, victims of state violence. “The number of political prisoners has risen to 433 and 415 civilians have been brought before military courts,” he added. “The systematic violation of human rights and basic freedoms is the worst attack against the Constitution.” Venezuelans are also dying of malnutrition and a variety of curable diseases, as the nation suffers a shortage of up to 85 percent of basic medicines.

Almagro urged the senators to consider sanctions on the Venezuelan regime. “Let me be clear, the sanctions will not worsen the suffering of the Venezuelan people,” he argued. “A clear message must be sent to Maduro and his colleagues that the criminals whose corruption, whose strategy, and whose orders have created this crisis and killed countless of their citizens, should be targeted and held to account.”

“We support sanctions on individuals who have committed crimes and are accused of corruption and we need more economic pressure on a government that is investing the money it earns through natural resources that belong to the people to fight and kill those very same people,” he concluded.

In response to questions about the relationship between Venezuela and its closest ally, the communist government of Cuba, Almagro noted that there was “like an occupation army” of 15,000 Cubans currently in Venezuela, many in military and political positions.

Almagro has been a vocal critic of both the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes and urged the OAS to act to sanction and isolate both countries. The OAS has a democratic charter which allows countries to vote to suspend and ultimately oust a country from the regional body if they abandon a democratic political system. Cuba is not an OAS member, but Almagro has moved to suspend Venezuela until Maduro steps down. In response, Maduro announced that Venezuela would voluntarily withdraw from the OAS, calling Almagro “slithering, shameless, at the service of the imperialist politics [of the United States] more than any secretary general in 70 years or the existence of the OAS.”

“Luis Almagro is the shame of Latin America,” Maduro said at the time.

Former Venezuelan foreign minister and current candidate to rewrite the constitution Delcy Rodríguez once accused Almagro of conspiring with the United States to overthrow the Venezuelan government.

Almagro has also found himself the target of attacks by the Castro regime, and was refused a visa to enter the country after being invited to a dissident event in February. Cuban officials referred to Almagro’s potential presence on the island as an “unacceptable provocation.”

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