[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 142 (Tuesday, October 19, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H10332]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ENRIQUE ``KIKI'' CAMARENA RED RIBBON RALLY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on Thursday of last week, October 
14, I had the opportunity to speak to 1,000 student leaders in front of 
the State Capitol in Austin, Texas during the second annual Enrique 
``Kiki'' Camarena Red Ribbon Rally about drug prevention. While I would 
have normally been here debating and voting on the VA-HUD conference 
report, the Motor Carrier Safety Act, and the D.C. appropriations bill, 
I could not pass up this opportunity to speak at this rally.
  The ``Kiki'' Camarena Red Ribbon Rally was sponsored by both Federal, 
State, and local law enforcement agencies, along with State and 
community drug prevention organizations, including the DEA, the FBI, 
the U.S. Marshals Service, Houston Crackdown, the U.S. Attorney for the 
Southern District of Texas, Customs, the Texas Federation of Parents, 
Kick Drugs Out of America, Partnership for a Drug-Free Texas, and the 
Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. I was invited by our 
director in Houston of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the second annual ``Kiki'' Camarena Red Ribbon 
Rally. I could not go last year because of votes, but this year I was 
able to attend. Again, it is hard to say no to someone who is literally 
putting their life on the line every day, that both Customs, DEA, and 
FBI agents and all of our law enforcement are, to make our country safe 
from this scourge of drugs that we have.
  For people's benefit that they may not know, the rally was named in 
honor of Enrique ``Kiki'' Camarena, the Drug Enforcement Administration 
special agent who suffered a traffic death while being kidnapped in 
Mexico in 1985. I was proud to share the stage with Myrna Camarena, 
Kiki's sister. Kiki Camarena sacrificed, and the sacrifice of other law 
enforcement officers should never be forgotten. They have paid the 
ultimate price for our safety, and we should pledge to never forget.
  As Members of Congress, we deal with many important issues, but I 
believe that none are more important than recognizing the sacrifice of 
law enforcement officers providing solutions, including effective 
treatment for drug addiction. By our involvement last Thursday, we 
demonstrated that in Texas we are serious about our involvement to 
reduce and end substance abuse.
  I was proud to be there for a number of reasons. One, it was 
sponsored by a great many law enforcement agencies who typically are 
concerned with catching the people who are the users or the people who 
are selling, or the smugglers. Yet, this rally, with 1,000 students and 
the red ribbon, talking about the red ribbon day, that it was aimed not 
just at the effort for law enforcement, but for prevention; to be able 
to have schools and different agencies there to say, we need to do a 
better job in treatment and prevention. That is why it was a great 
rally, and it was good to see our law enforcement agents, again, who 
typically are out on the frontline protecting our country from drugs to 
be there and say well, we cannot do all of the job. We have to stop it 
with the young people that we have in our State and our country to make 
sure that they do not succumb and be addicted to drugs.
  We owe a huge debt to the men and women who put their lives at risk 
to ensure our children's lives in the future are safe. I appreciate the 
opportunity to be present at that rally and to be one of the keynote 
speakers.
  We have come a long way to eradicate substance abuse, but we still 
have a long way to go. One of the concerns I have is that on a national 
basis, we have seen a lessening in the use of illegal drugs by the 
general population, but we have seen an increase in the younger 
population, our youth. So what we need to do, and with those 1,000 
young people there on the State Capitol steps in Austin, is to 
rededicate our effort not only for law enforcement, but also for 
prevention, and for treatment to where we can hopefully keep these 
young people from becoming addicted to drugs.

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