[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 3623]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           CONCERNING VENEZUELA'S PASSAGE OF THE ENABLING LAW

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. CONNIE MACK

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 8, 2007

  Mr. MACK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to call attention to a 
gathering storm in our own backyard.
  Last week, Venezuela's self-proclaimed Communist President Hugo 
Chavez was granted free rein to accelerate changes in all areas of 
society by presidential decree.
  This action, granted to him by the National Assembly, which is 
completely under his control, is putting Venezuela on a rapid path 
toward dictatorship.
  Venezuelan lawmakers unanimously gave President Chavez sweeping 
powers to legislate by decree and impose his radical vision of a 
socialist state in the mold of Castro's Cuba.
  The new law gives Chavez more power than he has ever had in 8 years 
as president.
  And, based upon his own words and statements, he plans to use this 
power to nationalize many privately held companies, snuff out political 
dissent, and remove term limits, thereby allowing him to serve 
indefinitely as president.
  Madam Speaker, some of my colleagues on both the left and the right 
argue that Chavez was democratically elected and that he and his quest 
for his Bolivarian Revolution are no threat to the Western Hemisphere.
  For example, last week in response to the new law, Assistant 
Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Tom Shannon said, and I 
quote from an interview with the Associated Press, ``the enabling law 
isn't anything new in Venezuela. It's something valid under the 
constitution. As with any tool of democracy, it depends how it is used. 
At the end of the day, it's not a question for the United States or for 
other countries, but for Venezuela.''
  But I vehemently disagree with this statement and the hands-off-
approach-to-Chavez sentiment. The mere holding of elections is not 
enough.
  Venezuela with Chavez at the helm is on a glidepath towards a 
dictatorship disguised as a democracy.
  Madam Speaker, we should all be concerned about the direction 
President Chavez is taking his country. Any leader who tries to tighten 
his grip on power by destroying the institutions of democracy, 
curtailing press freedom, and using his office to intimidate pro-
democracy opponents is setting in motion a dangerous process with 
potentially ominous consequences.
  During almost every speech Chavez gives, he says it is ``socialism or 
death.'' Madam Speaker, it is time to realize Chavez must be taken 
seriously. We must refocus our efforts in Latin America and defeat this 
gathering storm.

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