[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 7, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3453-H3454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     UNDERSTANDING RISKS OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTION IN VENEZUELA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Gaetz) for 5 minutes.

[[Page H3454]]

  

  Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, after meeting with President Trump yesterday 
regarding the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, I rise to praise the Trump 
administration for its mindful and strategic response to conditions in 
that country.
  All options must be on the table, including military force.
  My constituents would likely be among the first in that fight. I am 
incredibly proud of them. If asked, they will successfully execute any 
mission that they are called to do.
  Policymakers have an obligation not to send any of America's sons and 
daughters into any ill-advised conflict. The Trump administration 
clearly understands the risks associated with military intervention in 
Venezuela at this time. They include a few things.
  First, if the United States military were to have troops on the 
ground in Venezuela today, it is very likely that the Maduro regime 
would scapegoat their own failures.
  The people of Venezuela voted their way into socialism, and now it 
appears they have to fight their way out of it. While this should be a 
lesson to us all, military intervention should not be presented as an 
opportunity for the Maduro regime to explain away why people in 
Venezuela have no medicine, have no food, are starving, and at times 
see their own countrymen turning tanks and weapons against them.
  Those failures belong to the Maduro regime. Those failures belong to 
the socialist dictatorship.
  Were we to intervene in an unwise way, potentially, that would create 
confusion about the conditions that led to these terrible 
circumstances.
  Second, if the United States military were to intervene at this time, 
it is my concern that it would allow the Maduro regime to externalize 
their conflict.
  It is no surprise to any in this Chamber or many in the Trump 
administration that there remains some latent resentment within pockets 
of Latin America regarding U.S. intervention, regime change, and 
nation-building.
  At a time when we are seeing democratic successes and governments 
stood up that are beginning to provide for their citizens, it would be 
deeply unwise to stoke any anti-American resentment with ill-advised 
conflict.
  Right now, Maduro functionally lacks material support from the 
forward-thinking countries in the Western Hemisphere, and we would not 
want to create any opportunity for there to be a call to the new 
Bolivarian alliance.
  Ultimately, that is what a lot of these transnational criminal 
organizations want in Venezuela. They want to erode nation-states and 
borders. They want to end nationalism in our hemisphere so that they 
have a more permissive environment for their illicit activities.
  Third, the Trump administration clearly understands that, if the 
United States were deemed to be too involved in the popular uprising in 
Venezuela, Maduro would potentially have the opportunity to deny the 
organic desires of Venezuelans to fight for their own freedom.
  The reason people are rising up in Venezuela right now is not a 
consequence of the United States Government. It is a consequence of the 
failures of their own government and their passionate desire for 
freedom, one that we should stand with the people of Venezuela to 
execute.
  Despite these conditions and despite the challenges, I remain hopeful 
that there is a brighter future for Venezuela. As we meet and gather 
now, Juan Guaido is able to go about the country freely. Despite not 
having a military, despite not having staff, he is able to rally 
thousands of his fellow countrymen in public squares and make the 
argument for freedom.

  Meanwhile, the coward Maduro remains huddled up in a military base, 
unable to move around and unsure who will turn on him next.
  If the last quarter century has taught our country anything about the 
nature of freedom, it is that freedom has to be fought for hardest by 
those who yearn to live it. Freedom cannot be the gift that America 
gives other countries, purchased solely with the currency of the blood 
of U.S. servicemembers.
  People have to fight for freedom and earn it. They have to die for 
it. They have to bury their relatives over it. Then they have to love 
it and care for it so much that they will never let another strongman 
take it away from them and so that they will never fall victim to the 
passions that led Venezuela down this dark path to socialism, 
dictatorship, starvation, and desperation.
  We stand with the people of Venezuela, and they must stand now to 
fight for a better future for their country.

                          ____________________