[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25718]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         IRAN AND LATIN AMERICA

  (Mr. KLEIN of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to put the spotlight on an 
ominous trend in our region. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may 
have left New York, but he remains close by. From the U.N. General 
Assembly, Mr. Ahmadinejad flew to Bolivia and then to his friend, Hugo 
Chavez, in Venezuela.
  Ahmadinejad, with his hate-filled rhetoric and his funding of global 
terror, is too close for comfort. I rise to urge our friends in Latin 
America to refuse the Iranian president's advances and see him for what 
he is: A bully who disregards international will and who ignores our 
efforts against terrorism.
  The 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Community Center shows that 
the Iranian presence in Latin America has been dangerous in the past. 
This week, Argentina called on the U.N. General Assembly to urge Iran 
to more fully cooperate with the investigation so that justice can 
finally be served for this heinous act of terrorism.
  Coming from south Florida where I live, when something happens in 
Latin America, we feel it. My district has many economic and familial 
ties to Latin America. Our friends in Latin America have been our 
partners in fighting terrorism, and we look forward to continuing our 
mutually beneficial partnership with these countries to make our areas 
safe and more secure.

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