[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 62 (Thursday, May 12, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H3203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXPRESSING GROWING CONCERNS ABOUT A GATHERING LEFTIST STORM IN LATIN 
                                AMERICA

  (Mr. MACK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MACK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong concern 
about a gathering storm that poses a real threat to freedom, security 
and prosperity throughout the Western Hemisphere.
  At the center of this storm is Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who 
is fanning the flames of leftist, anti-American, anti-freedom movements 
that are fostering regional instability.
  In the years since he took office as a democratically-elected leader, 
Chavez has moved sharply away from those ideals. He has stacked the 
government with judges and allies to implement his own personal will. 
He has cracked down on the freedom of the press. He is financing a 
State-run television network patterned after Al Jazeera to spread his 
propaganda far and wide, and he has forged a dangerous alliance with 
Fidel Castro.
  Mr. Speaker, Hugo Chavez fancies himself as a modern Simon Bolivar, 
who wanted to unite Latin America into one Nation. Hugo Chavez is 
trying to alter the balance of power in our hemisphere. The United 
States must take this growing threat seriously.

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