[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 52 (Thursday, May 4, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H2156-H2157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HUGO CHAVEZ'S ASSAULT ON PRIVATE PROPERTY

  Mr. MACK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim Congressman 
Gingrey's time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MACK. Mr. Speaker, around the world, freedom is under attack 
every day; and many in this body have heard me express my strong 
concerns to one of freedom's greatest enemies, Venezuelan President 
Hugo Chavez.
  I have spoken at length about the Chavez government's systematic 
elimination of freedom and liberty; and his recent assaults on private 
property, particularly the energy markets, in Venezuela serve as 
another reminder that Hugo Chavez is doing all he can to force his 
countrymen to live in a socialist state similar to his mentor Fidel 
Castro's Cuba.
  In recent years, Hugo Chavez has become a prime example of how crude 
prices have sparked a resurgence of petro-nationalism around the world. 
He has squeezed more money out of American companies by raising taxes 
and royalties, imposing fines, strengthened

[[Page H2157]]

the hand of OPEC countries by pushing for higher prices, and 
threatening to cut off the flow of oil to the United States.
  As Chavez continues to march towards socialism, he seems determined 
to wipe out free enterprise, drive out private investment and wreck the 
economy in order to establish iron-fisted control of Venezuela's 
economy, just as Fidel Castro in Cuba.
  Venezuela and Hugo Chavez are flush with record-high oil revenues, 
but Chavez is threatening to kill the oil-drenched golden goose.
  Just last month, the Venezuelan oil minister showed up at two oil 
fields run by European companies in order to reclaim them on behalf of 
the Venezuelan government and Hugo Chavez. Hoisting the Venezuelan flag 
over the fields, he said the move symbolized the return to state 
control.
  This dramatic move is proof, as if more is needed, that Chavez is 
putting Venezuela on a path to a nationalized energy industry. These 
moves, and his saber-rattling military buildup and crackdowns on 
freedom at home, continue to roil the international oil markets and are 
enabling Chavez to help keep crude prices high.
  Venezuela supplies the United States with about 15 percent of our oil 
imports; and few Americans probably realize that Venezuela's state oil 
company owns Citgo Petroleum, which owns refineries that are geared to 
handling the heavy Venezuelan crude, together with a network of 
thousands of independent gas stations.
  Chavez's radical strategy to nationalize his energy industry is being 
felt across Latin America. Just this week in Bolivia, newly-elected 
President Evo Morales nationalized the country's natural gas industry, 
ordering foreign companies to give up control of fields and accept much 
tougher operating terms or leave the country. Morales even ordered 
soldiers to commandeer many fields across the nation.
  The move solidifies Morales' role alongside Chavez and Castro in 
Latin America's new axis of socialism united against American interests 
and free people everywhere. Make no mistake, the images of soldiers 
toting automatic weapons outside refineries and gas fields is 
reminiscent of military dictatorships past.
  Chavez has been promising to build a Bolivarian axis of like-minded, 
anti-American governments throughout Latin America. Only recently, few 
people took him seriously. Not anymore. Just this past weekend, Chavez 
and Morales signed a free trade agreement with Castro.
  Mr. Speaker, history has proven that no nation with a state-
controlled economy can prosper, and anyone who lives in such a nation 
lives without the freedom and liberty they deserve.
  A Venezuela with President Hugo Chavez at the helm is a nation doomed 
to repeat the failures of history and a people who will be forced to 
live without the freedom, security and prosperity they once had but 
still deserve.

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