[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16650]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       PROBLEMS IN LATIN AMERICA

  (Mr. KIRK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, problems now loom in Latin America as they did 
in the 1980s. Venezuela's Mussolini, Hugo Chavez, ordered 40 Russian 
military helicopters to station on his border with Colombia. And he is 
also taking delivery of over 100,000 AK-103 assault rifles to fight a 
new war.
  His war may be in Central America. His agents are already funneling 
oil money to groups hostile to the United States and to free trade.
  We in the Congress have a choice to make. We can either send exports 
to Central America or troops. Next week let us enact a free trade 
agreement with Central America to lock in democratic growth and 
stability, and let us make sure that President Hugo Chavez's Venezuelan 
agents find no fertile ground in America's back yard.

                          ____________________