[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11490]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SHARING THE STORY OF HADAR GOLDIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Curbelo) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CURBELO of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share and honor 
the story of Hadar Goldin, an Israel Defense Forces soldier who was 
killed by Hamas terrorists and whose remains have yet to be returned to 
his family.
  I met Hadar's parent in south Florida earlier this year, and they 
told me about their son, his love of freedom that inspired his service 
to Israel and their just cause.
  On August 1, 2014, 23-year-old Hadar was killed by Hamas terrorists. 
His body was then dragged away from his home and into an underground 
tunnel. Hamas terrorists then stripped him and left his clothing and 
took his body with them. For nearly 3 years, Hamas has held Hadar's 
remains from his parents, who merely want to give their son a proper 
burial.
  Mr. Speaker, Israel is one of our strongest allies, our greatest 
ally, and our support sends a clear message to all terrorists, 
including Hamas, that the United States will continue to firmly stand 
with Israel and its people.
  No parent should ever face the heartbreak of outliving a child, but 
those who do should expect a proper burial. Hadar's parents have been 
denied that basic decency by the Hamas terrorists that murdered their 
son. So today I am urging those holding Hadar to let him come home so 
that his parents can say good-bye.


                       Solidarity with Venezuela

  Mr. CURBELO of Florida. Mr. Speaker, Venezuela, once a beacon of 
economic prosperity in South America, has descended into chaos and 
turmoil. An oil-rich nation, it now struggles as Maduro's policies have 
led Venezuela to having the hemisphere's highest inflation rate, 
resulting in critical shortages of food and medicine, as well as the 
collapse of the Venezuelan currency and rampant crime.
  The Maduro regime's incompetence in managing Venezuela's finances and 
systemic corruption has led to a crackdown on human rights and violence 
against democratic demonstrators. The country is lurching towards 
single-party, totalitarian rule.
  Rather than working with the opposition to serve the interests of the 
Venezuelan people, Maduro is using his influence to grasp onto power, 
first, by having his henchmen on the Supreme Court attempt to strip the 
National Assembly of its powers, and now, by calling for an unelected 
constituent assembly to rewrite Venezuela's Constitution. This is just 
another attempt to usurp and replace Venezuela's Democratic National 
Assembly with a puppet parliament loyal only to him.
  This idea was recently rejected by 98 percent of the 7.2 million 
Venezuelans that participated in a nonbinding referendum last week. 
Fortunately, the United States has been quick to show solidarity with 
these freedom-loving people. I am grateful for the President's show of 
support and his direct warning to Maduro of the strong and swift 
economic sanctions the United States will take if he proceeds with the 
constituent assembly.
  The United States will no longer stand by and watch Maduro and his 
thugs ignore human rights and the rule of law. There is a bipartisan 
consensus that Maduro's undemocratic and tyrannical rule is 
unacceptable.
  All options are on the table, and I look forward to continuing to 
work with this administration and my colleagues here in Congress to 
stand in solidarity with the democratic opposition and the people of 
Venezuela.

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