[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6991-6992]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               VENEZUELA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss the ongoing crisis 
in Venezuela due to the incompetence of its leader, Nicolas Maduro. No 
matter what Maduro says, the crisis is his fault, not the fault of the 
U.S., not the fault of the Organization of American States. Maduro and 
his corrupt cronies are the ones to blame for this disaster--no one 
else.
  While the Obama administration has sometimes tried to concede to the 
Maduro regime, it has only been reciprocated with no real positive 
change or any way forward by Maduro. Even now, the U.S. Embassy in 
Caracas has had to suspend appointments for Venezuelans who seek first-
time tourist and business visas due to staff shortages that it blames 
on Maduro.
  This is just the tip of the iceberg, Mr. Speaker. For a country that 
is rich in oil reserves, it is the sign of incompetence and corruption 
that Venezuela is struggling with empty grocery stores, shortages of 
medicine, high inflation, and a plummeting economy.
  Now Maduro is trying desperately to receive assistance from other 
countries to save his corrupt regime. India has offered medicine in 
exchange for Venezuelan oil, and China may offer loans to Venezuela in 
exchange for oil. But these attempts are possibly too late, and 
Venezuela may not be able to survive this incredible economic downward 
spiral.
  To put it simply, Mr. Speaker, Venezuela is on the verge of total 
collapse, and what an impact that will have throughout our hemisphere. 
It is not a matter of if. It is a matter of when.
  On top of that, Venezuela is also facing medical shortages that have 
become a humanitarian crisis. Recently, a group of Venezuelan 
legislative members were in D.C., meeting with us to ask for 
humanitarian assistance for their people and for medical supplies to 
take care of the sick in Venezuela.
  Now, these members are the opposition of Nicolas Maduro, but they 
know that Maduro doesn't care about helping the people, so they are 
rising up to the chore.
  The Venezuelan Medical Federation has asked the Maduro regime to 
accept humanitarian aid in order to handle the massive shortages of 
medicine in the country, a request that has not been agreed upon by 
Maduro. The Venezuelan Neurology Society reported that the shortage of 
medicines for neurological conditions has reached around 90 percent.
  The Venezuelan National Assembly has declared a humanitarian health 
crisis that includes the lack of 872 essential medications. In April, 
the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional reported that the Venezuelan 
Pharmaceutical Federation declared that the shortage of medicines in 
pharmacies has reached 85 percent.
  The lack of medicine, Mr. Speaker, impacts people from all walks of 
life, from the elderly, to the sick, to the mentally ill, to the 
children who cannot receive lifesaving care.
  Individuals with serious illnesses have to go from pharmacy to 
pharmacy, looking for the medicines. If they don't find them, they 
either have to leave the country or try to smuggle the medicines in 
through the underground black market. The situation in Venezuela can 
also quickly become more violent and even more dangerous if the crisis 
is not resolved quickly.
  Maduro has issued emergency decrees, even though the National 
Assembly rejected it, that will help him consolidate even more of his 
power. Power? Maduro doesn't care about the food and medicine for the 
people. All he cares about is having more power.
  Last week Venezuela launched its biggest military exercise. Who is 
invading Venezuela? Why did he do it? To scare the population and to 
show the Venezuelan people his military might so as to prevent any 
protests by the people. At the same time, the Venezuelan National 
Assembly has called for its own country to be suspended from the 
Organization of American States.
  The crisis in Venezuela must wake up others in the region. The new 
leaders of Argentina and Brazil are needed to bring the Southern Cone 
together in the name of regional stability.
  Where is the leadership in the United States? President Obama has yet 
to add more names of human rights violators in Venezuela. Adding names 
would prevent them from coming to the United States. This is a list 
that is based on a law that I passed along with my Senate colleague, 
Senator Marco Rubio. That law is going to expire, and we need to extend 
it a few more years because those rights are being violated every day.
  I talked about the economic hardships, but let's talk about the 
political and human rights violations that are going on every day in 
Maduro's Venezuela--they are committed by the Maduro regime--including 
the unconscionable imprisonment of Leopoldo Lopez and scores of pro-
democracy activists.
  The dire situation in Venezuela, Mr. Speaker, is out of control. 
Let's see what we can do because the Venezuelan people deserve better 
than a corrupt Maduro.

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