[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 26, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H1946]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           OAS MUST DO MORE TO SUPPORT DEMOCRACY IN VENEZUELA

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on the 
Organization of American States, OAS, to take immediate action in 
support of freedom and democracy in Venezuela. The OAS must not remain 
silent while the people who are peaceful in Venezuela are being 
murdered on the streets by the Maduro regime.
  I commend the government of Panama for proposing a region-wide 
foreign minister meeting to discuss the violations of human rights in 
Venezuela.
  If the OAS can convene a special session over the lack of airspace 
access for a plane from Bolivia, then surely it must convene one on the 
ongoing democracy in Venezuela.
  As a member of the OAS and its largest international donor, the U.S. 
has a moral obligation to ensure that these democratic principles are 
upheld, and if the OAS does not do more to address these attacks on 
freedom, then, Mr. Speaker, we must use our full voice, vote, and 
influence to compel it into action.

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