[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 23, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H4498-H4501]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE DETERIORATING SITUATION IN VENEZUELA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms.
Ros-Lehtinen) for 30 minutes.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I am so grateful to Mr. Albio Sires,
my good friend from New Jersey, the ranking member of our Subcommittee
on the Western Hemisphere in the Committee on Foreign Affairs for
joining me tonight for this Special Order regarding the deteriorating
situation in Venezuela, demonstrating not only the bipartisan nature of
this issue, Mr. Speaker, but also the need for the United States, and
specifically the Congress, to be even more engaged.
As Mr. Sires knows--and we will hear from him in just a few minutes--
the situation in Venezuela, as you can see here, is becoming more
desperate by the day. The humanitarian situation is getting worse, if
one can imagine that. The Maduro regime continues its flagrant human
rights violations, and, despite the latest round of sanctions against
human rights violators imposed by our excellent Treasury Department,
the United States needs to take more decisive steps in support of the
people of Venezuela.
Mr. Speaker, at least 48 Venezuelans have been killed in almost 2
months of protests, nonstop protests, against the dictatorship
responsible for a litany of crimes. You cannot enumerate them. Horrific
human rights abuses, drug trafficking, a rapidly worsening humanitarian
situation. The list goes on and on, Mr. Speaker.
Venezuelans do not have access to even the most basic of necessities,
which means water, food, and medicine. None of that exists in
Venezuela. Venezuelan humanitarian shortages of food and medicine.
People are standing in lines to get nothing. The Venezuelan
Pharmaceutical Federation estimates that the country is running
shortages on nearly every necessary medical item. For those few
Venezuelans who could afford to purchase medicine, they are forced to
pay exorbitant prices for supplies like gauze, pain relievers, Band-
Aids, and that is only if they are available in the first place, Mr.
Speaker. Hospital workers have told us that the supplies are being
raided, and they are being sold on the black market.
The situation is no better when it comes to food. Last week, a 46-
year-old man was killed by soldiers as he was on his way home from
buying diapers for his baby. Killed while buying diapers for his baby.
Why? Because diapers are a scarce commodity. They have been a scarce
commodity for over a year now in Venezuela, a country that was abundant
in natural resources. Earlier this week, this very week, a 15-year-old
boy was shot and killed for the crime of buying flour.
One study reports that 75 percent of the population of Venezuela--
this is unbelievable--has lost an average of 19 pounds due to food
shortages. Even obtaining water can be an expensive proposition for
those without running water at home. The shortage of basic goods has
led to massive lines, has led to violence, has led to looting as people
have become increasingly desperate for the basic, meager means to
survive. We are just talking about basic necessities, Mr. Speaker.
This tragic humanitarian situation could have been prevented, Mr.
Speaker, and no one is more responsible than the thug who rules
Venezuela with an iron fist, Nicolas Maduro, and his despotic regime.
The Maduro dictatorship presides over the world's largest oil reserves
yet has managed to run the state oil company and the entire economy
into the ground.
Socialism does not work. Communism does not work. One need only look
at Venezuela. Instead of allowing humanitarian relief, the regime has
nationalized the food and medical supply chain and put corrupt
officials in charge. What could go wrong?
Earlier this month, I wrote a letter, along with my good friend Albio
Sires, as well as Eliot Engel, the ranking member of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, and 12 other congressional colleagues joined Mr.
Sires, Mr. Engel, and myself, urging the administration to use its
voice, to use our vote, to use our influence at the United Nations
Security Council to demand that Venezuelan authorities allow the
delivery and the distribution of humanitarian aid. We were giving them
what they need. Maduro would have none of it.
But I applaud our U.S. Ambassador at the U.N., Nikki Haley, for
organizing a Security Council meeting on Venezuela last week. But more
needs to be done, Mr. Speaker. As Ambassador Haley bravely said,
Venezuela is on the edge of a humanitarian crisis, right here in our
hemisphere. Humanitarian agencies must be allowed to operate
independently in Venezuela, without interference from the thuggish
Maduro regime, and deliver the aid that the people so desperately need.
The world is ready to help Venezuela. Nicolas Maduro refuses this help.
Humanitarian agencies must say to Maduro, if they are hindered in any
way, then those responsible must be held to account. Before I continue,
Mr. Speaker, to address the Maduro regime's abuse of human rights in
greater detail and how the United States can be a force for good in
Venezuela, I yield to Albio Sires, my good friend from New Jersey.
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Florida. I want to
commend her for her passion and her commitment to helping the people of
Venezuela. I thank her for making me part of this Special Order.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.
With every week that passes, we see the situation in Venezuela becoming
more critical.
{time} 1930
A country with the world's largest known oil reserves is spiraling
into a collapsed state where people are struggling just to survive.
Journalists and citizens risk their lives every day to report what is
happening inside Caracas and around the country. We see that tensions
are growing, and government security forces shoot first and don't even
bother to ask questions later.
Maduro continues to keep political prisoners like Leopoldo Lopez
under lock and key to send a strong message to those trying to question
his actions. Just yesterday, we saw reports that government buildings
in western Venezuela are being set ablaze. Make no mistake: It is the
failed Chavismo policies and the authoritarian actions of Nicolas
Maduro that have brought all of this pain and suffering upon the
Venezuelan people.
Press reports show that of 800,000 businesses that opened during the
Chavez regime, nearly 600,000 have shut down. Both the Obama and Trump
administrations have sanctioned senior officials in the Venezuelan
Government for their associations with narcotrafficking, money
laundering, and other illicit activities.
Just today, Reuters released an exclusive report that the Venezuelan
Government is in possession of 5,000 shoulder-launched surface-to-air
missiles that are typically used to shoot down low-flying planes and
helicopters.
Last week, Spanish authorities interdicted a shipment of 6 tons of
cocaine from Venezuela en route to their shores. With the recent
sanctions of Vice President Tareck El Aissami, under the Kingpin Act,
it has become clear that Venezuela's Government is
[[Page H4499]]
acting as a narco-state and facilitating the shipment of narcotics
throughout the region. These sanctions are not against the Venezuelan
people but are carefully crafted and targeted towards the individuals
who are committed to destroying the lives of millions of innocent
civilians in exchange for money and power.
Last week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned members of
Venezuela's Supreme Court for their rulings that stripped power away
from the National Assembly, further consolidating Maduro's
authoritarian regime. Maduro and his cronies continue to get rich as
they traffic money and drugs while doing nothing to help the millions
of suffering people in Venezuela. They continue to loot the country as
reports regarding the worsening situation continue to make front-page
news throughout the region. Maduro's tactics are making it impossible
to survive.
Multiple news reports confirm a growing health crisis as people lack
access to basic medicines, and infant mortality rates and preventable
diseases such as diptheria, malaria, and the Zika virus are all on the
rise. In addition, nearly every day we hear of young children whose
lives are cut short, whether it is from a bullet from Maduro's thugs or
the lack of access to food, water, and basic services.
That is why I am grateful for the efforts of my colleagues here
tonight who have supported several initiatives in Congress that work to
hold these thugs accountable. My colleagues and I have held hearings,
sent letters, and met with our allies in the region to work together to
try to bring sound relief to the Venezuelan people.
Meanwhile, instead of focusing on the economy, Maduro is staging mock
military exercises and stoking fears by spreading propaganda of U.S.-
led invasion.
The truth about Maduro is clear, and the international community is
starting to unify against him. The OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro
has wisely called for Venezuela's suspension from the OAS unless it
frees its political prisoners, accepts humanitarian aid, and holds
elections without delay.
I believe we need to work together with our allies around the world
and continue to insist Maduro abide by international norms and give the
Venezuelan people the freedom they deserve.
I thank my dear friend from Florida, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and the
other Members here tonight for their relentless commitment to these
important issues.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Sires for such an eloquent
statement on behalf of the beleaguered and embattled Venezuelan people.
Before I yield so proudly to Mr. Castro of Texas, another member of
our Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, I would like to say just a few
words about the continuing human rights abuses and the deteriorating
situation in Venezuela.
As we have heard from Mr. Sires, we are dealing with a corrupt
dictatorship, and we are dealing with a brutal dictatorship. At least
42 are dead and 90 arrested since protests began in March of 2017, you
can see on this poster.
This is a dictatorship that will go to all lengths to maintain its
tight grip on power and silence the opposition by tear gas, by real
bullets, by jailing, and by intimidation. The people of Venezuela are
literally dying, Mr. Speaker, on the streets from the violence of the
Maduro regime. They are dying on the streets from starvation, and they
are dying from the lack of medical supplies, yet they still risk their
lives.
This goes on each and every day in Venezuela. They go out into the
streets. They demonstrate to the world that they will not be silenced,
and what they desire is freedom, and what they desire is democracy, and
what they desire is nothing less and nothing more than their God-given
human rights, the very same intangibles that many in America here take
for granted because we live in the greatest country in the world. We
take for granted that we have our freedom.
But the ideals that we proudly espouse and defend around the world
are alive and well in the streets of Venezuela. Venezuelans are
protesting against the regime's continual assaults on Venezuela's
constitutional and democratic order.
Like Chavez before him, Nicolas Maduro has a horrific human rights
record, including restrictions on freedom of expression, restrictions
on the press, widespread arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killings,
torture, and the list goes on and on.
In its human rights reports on Venezuela last year, our own State
Department noted how the Maduro regime has misused the judiciary to
undermine the National Assembly, a body overwhelmingly manipulated by
the opposition since December of 2015. This opposition has risen to
power thanks to the vote of the people.
So what did Nicolas Maduro say? Well, his supreme court nullified
almost every action taken by the National Assembly, including refusing
to allow lawmakers to take their seats in the legislature and
overturning laws to free political prisoners and grow the economy.
I am so pleased to see that we have been joined by the chairman of
the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Mr. Duncan, tonight.
But things have only gotten worse since that time. In March, the
regime controlled the Supreme Tribunal of Justice--a sad name for what
it does--and ruled that it would resume the responsibilities of the
National Assembly. It said: We are the state. Who needs the National
Assembly that is manipulated and controlled by the opposition? We
nullify its actions. We will assume the responsibility.
And although what the Tribunal said, they had to backtrack almost
immediately because the condemnation internationally was so loud. It
partially reversed its decision just a few days later, but the damage
was already done, Mr. Speaker. Venezuelans had further proof of a break
in the constitutional order.
Anti-regime protests have been going on, as we can see here, day
after day, day after day, as hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have
taken to the streets to demand relief from the Maduro repression.
According to The New York Times, before these protests even began, Mr.
Speaker, the Maduro regime had arrested 6,893 people, jailed 433 for
political reasons just in the past few years, and there are at least
175 political prisoners behind bars today, including Leopoldo Lopez and
Daniel Ceballos.
Joshua Holt, a United States citizen, Mr. Speaker, is being unjustly
held for nearly a year. In September, I wrote a letter, joined by my
colleagues here, to the State Department about Joshua's case. Joshua
Holt's health has deteriorated over the last month. I urged the State
Department to secure his unconditional release on humanitarian grounds.
We all were humbled to meet with Joshua Holt's mom, who is so anxious
to see his release, just last month.
So, Mr. Speaker, despite all of the Maduro regime's human rights
abuses, the beatings, the violence, the murders, the repression, and
the political prisoners, despite all of this, the Venezuelan people are
refusing to be silenced. They are rising up, and they are protesting in
even greater numbers. This is just amazing.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Castro), my
good friend from the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee.
Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen
and Congressman Albio Sires for their incredible work on this issue and
all of their passion. I also thank the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee
chairman, Congressman Duncan. I know how much he has worked on the
issue of Venezuela, and Latin America also.
The people of Venezuela are in dire need of humanitarian assistance
to endure critical food and medicine shortages. The desperation,
oppression, and violence in Venezuela really are reaching a breaking
point.
Three out of four Venezuelans have lost significant weight during the
last year due to food shortages.
In 2016, the nation suffered a homicide rate of 91.8 per 100,000
people, making Venezuela the second most violent country in the world
outside of a war zone.
We have reason to believe more than half of Venezuelans want to leave
their home country.
Last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said
Colombia should expect an ``avalanche'' of Venezuelan refugees, an
influx that
[[Page H4500]]
could complicate this critical time for Colombia's own peace agreement.
Meanwhile, President Maduro's government is taking increasingly
antidemocratic actions in violation of Venezuela's own constitution.
Since Venezuela's supreme court attempted to dissolve the country's
legislature in March, the Venezuelan people have sustained massive
protests, leading to a brutal crackdown from government security
forces. The best outcome for this political crisis is a Venezuelan
solution: a peaceful return to free and fair elections.
At the same time, the United States has a responsibility to work
alongside our allies at the Organization of American States and the
United Nations to hold Maduro's government accountable and to provide
humanitarian assistance to the people of Venezuela.
Last week, President Trump authorized sanctions against the members
of Venezuela's supreme court who attempted to shut down the
legislature. While U.S. sanctions against individuals in the Maduro
regime are justified, sanctions work best when implemented
multilaterally. More importantly, unilateral actions are no substitute
for collective, coordinated pressure.
The OAS has scheduled a meeting of foreign ministers on the situation
in Venezuela to take place on May 31 here in Washington, D.C. This
meeting presents an opportunity to work with our partners and
Venezuela's neighbors to support a return to democracy and respect for
human rights. I hope Secretary Tillerson will represent the United
States at this meeting and demonstrate our Nation's support for the
Venezuelan people.
One of the reasons that I chose to join the Western Hemisphere
Subcommittee when I was already part of the Foreign Affairs Committee
is because I believe that there are many things that happen in Latin
America that don't get the attention that they deserve here in the
United States.
{time} 1945
It is amazing to think that there is a human rights crisis going on
right now in our own Western Hemisphere. Of course, there are many
challenges around the world. We know that because of the war in Syria
and the unrest in the region, Europe, over the last few years, has
faced its largest migration crisis since World War II.
There are challenges with human rights and freedom in every continent
just about. But we have to make sure that we attend to the things that
are happening in our own backyard, so to speak.
So I thank each of you for being here tonight to speak up on this
issue of human rights in Venezuela and the crisis that they are going
through.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, we are so pleased that Mr. Castro has,
once again, joined us in this battle for human rights, for democracy,
for justice, for the rule of law, in our hemisphere. His voice is a
valiant one that needs to be heard and is always present whenever the
struggle for human rights is mentioned.
So thank you, Mr. Castro, for this stance today and for the stance
that you have taken on behalf of beleaguered people in our hemisphere
every day.
Now, Mr. Sires and I are so thankful that our subcommittee chairman
of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, the gentleman from South
Carolina (Mr. Duncan), has joined us.
As I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Sires is the ranking member of that
subcommittee, and Mr. Duncan is the chairman of that subcommittee, a
valiant voice for freedom that must be heard.
I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Duncan).
Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the
chairwoman, former chairwoman of the full committee when I first came
to Congress, and a real leader on foreign affairs issues, focused on
Cuba and Venezuela. She has been a real mentor to me, and I want to
thank her for her work on this, giving us the opportunity to speak
tonight.
Again, Ranking Member Sires has been a champion on our subcommittee.
I want to echo the words about Mr. Castro as well. We have got a great
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere focusing on freedom and
democracy in the Western Hemisphere.
What we see in Venezuela is alarming, as well as it is saddening,
when we hear about Venezuelans who are scrounging for food in the
dumpsters, eating domesticated animals, even flamingos; people who are
hungry because the socialistic policies of the Maduro and the previous
Chavez regime has not worked in Venezuela. A country that has bountiful
natural resources, more oil than Saudi Arabia, should be leading this
hemisphere in economics.
Yet because of the policies of the Chavez and Maduro governments, the
people of Venezuela are continuing to be oppressed. This weekend, more
than 2,000 Venezuelans took to the streets, marking, I think, the 50th
day of protests against this regime. I can't think of any other way to
describe this faux democracy in Venezuela, other than a regime.
The Venezuelan people are standing up and calling for a new
government. They are calling for more democracy, true democracy,
representation in their own government, freedoms that we take for
granted here in this country, freedoms of speech, and the right to
peacefully assemble, the right to participate in their government and
have accountability, the right to petition their government for
grievances. And they have got some grievances against the Maduro
regime.
Yet Maduro continues to oppress the Venezuelan people. It is not
unlike what we have seen in Cuba. Folks, socialism doesn't work, and it
is not working in Venezuela, and they are a prime example. But Maduro
doesn't want to listen to his own people in Venezuela and call for new
democratic elections, where the people elect their representatives to
congress and to the Presidency.
But he has called for elections, and he said just recently: `` `Votes
or bullets. What do the people want?' Maduro asked a crowd of red-
shirted supporters waving Venezuela flags at the Miraflores
presidential palace.''
Votes or bullets? Is that how we talk about the democratic process in
a true democracy? I say no, and I tell the Venezuelan people, America
stands with you as you approach democracy.
It is time for more people in this hemisphere and the Organization of
American States, all the member countries, to stand with the Venezuelan
people, and let's change the government in Venezuela through peaceful
means, democratic means, that their Constitution calls for.
But yet, Maduro is ignoring the Constitution. In fact, he got the
Supreme Court to go along with him to discount the National Assembly
there, and, luckily, they reversed course on that because they realized
the world was watching and the world was saying that is not how
democracies operate.
The Venezuelan people need the support of the world, and I call on
the world today to come to the backs, standing with, watching the backs
of the Venezuelan people, because Maduro has told his snipers to get
ready; told his snipers to get ready to attack the protesters that are
protesting a supposed democrat government. Wow.
So I want to thank the chairwoman. I want to thank Ambassador Nikki
Haley, former Governor of South Carolina, who has stood strong in the
U.N. as Ambassador to the U.N. for the Trump administration. I want to
thank her for standing with the Venezuelan people for democratic
principles.
I want to thank all those in this Chamber, including my ranking
member, for having stern and direct conversations with the OAS about
Venezuela.
I want to thank Argentina for what they have done, stepping up to the
plate. These are countries that understand the democratic process.
I want to thank Brazil for actually allowing the democratic process
to work in the country of Brazil through an impeachment of their
President, and allowing the democratic forces to work to return that to
a representative government.
It is time for America to stand with our friends about democratic
principles here. Snipers? That is not how we operate.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I yield back the balance of my time.
[[Page H4501]]
____________________