[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9939-9940]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SUPPORT FOR THE VENEZUELAN PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Collins of New York). The Chair 
recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, last week's general assembly meeting 
of the Organization of American States, the OAS, in Cancun, was 
intended to get greater support from the region to hold Nicolas Maduro 
and his regime accountable for their horrific actions against the 
Venezuelan people.
  However, we fell short of the 23 votes needed to fully enforce a 
resolution condemning Maduro for convening a fake constituent assembly 
with the purpose of undermining the democratically elected national 
assembly.
  I commend the 20 nations. Thank you to the 20 nations that stood up 
to the Venezuelan tyrant; especially I want to single out Barbados, the 
Bahamas, St. Lucia, Jamaica, Guyana, and Belize.
  To our allies in the Caribbean who voted with the people of Venezuela 
and not with the regime, I say: Thank you.
  And to those who voted against the people of Venezuela and with the 
regime, my message to you is: Wake up.
  The Maduro regime is a sinking ship and, as that economy continues to 
implode, it will take some of the Caribbean nations along with it.
  It is in the best interest of the Caribbean nations to work with the 
United States, with Canada, with Mexico, and other regional allies to 
put an end to the abusive tactics of the Maduro regime once and for 
all.
  Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, countries like Nicaragua, whose leader 
Ortega is a kindred spirit of Maduro, spoke out to oppose the meeting 
and criticized the OAS for what it called interference in Venezuelans' 
domestic issues.
  Ortega condemned the OAS for taking its rightful action to apply the 
Inter-American Democratic Charter for Venezuela, yet Ortega wants us to 
believe that he is in favor of negotiating in good faith with the OAS 
to improve the electoral, the political, and the human rights situation 
in Nicaragua. What a farce.
  Ortega has been doing Maduro's bidding at the OAS since day one, and 
we see right through him. Ortega has illustrated time and time again 
that he is not interested in any reforms, nor is he interested in 
restoring any democratic values back to the people of Nicaragua.
  But Ortega was not the only one who abandoned the people of 
Venezuela. No.

[[Page 9940]]

El Salvador is another nation that has not once voted alongside the 
U.S. on issues related to Venezuela, even though we continue to provide 
funds for the Central American Alliance for Prosperity plan. They like 
our money. They just don't want to look at things our way at all.
  Last week, I signed onto a letter led by my dear friend Albio Sires 
from New Jersey. He wrote this letter to the Department of the 
Treasury, urging it to designate the El Salvadorian Foreign Deputy 
Minister Jose Luis Merino as a foreign narcotics kingpin for his ties 
to illicit activities to drug trafficking, to money laundering, for the 
FARC--the FARC that is a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist 
organization.
  It is pathetic that the Venezuelan regime continues to use certain 
countries at the OAS as its puppets to shield itself from regional 
criticism.
  In the last 2 months, Mr. Speaker, more than 70 people have been 
killed by Maduro's regime in Venezuela. Hundreds have been arrested. 
Hundreds have been injured by the violence, including a 17-year-old 
protester who was shot in pointblank range by pro-Maduro police thugs.
  It is unacceptable for us to stand idly by as this cruelty continues 
to happen. It is a disgrace that the region could not come together in 
a united front to call out the Maduro regime for the violent thugs that 
they are, a disgrace to our democratic principles and values, and a 
disgrace to the Inter-American Democratic Charter for which the OAS 
stands.
  The deteriorating situation in Venezuela is an important matter for 
the region, for our own interests, Mr. Speaker. Our message must be to 
those countries that continue to vote against the people of Venezuela: 
Stop being cowards. Be courageous. Stand up to those corrupt bullies in 
Venezuela. Do it for the people of Venezuela. How many more have to 
give their lives in Venezuela for you to wake up? And if you don't stop 
to reassess your support for the thug Maduro, and your willingness to 
turn a blind eye toward the suffering of the Venezuelan people, perhaps 
America will start to reassess its relationship with you.

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