Michael G. Kozak

We almost became prisoners of the Chinese Communist Party in our own country.

They are for human rights; they are for democracy; they are for free-market competition. And China is the antithesis of all of those things.

Nine of the 15 countries that recognize Taiwan are in Latin America and the Caribbean, and we are doing everything we can to keep it that way.

China is following, to me, what appears like a 19th century imperialist model in merchantilism and government agencies and so on.

For those who seek to maintain the status quo, we will not let them use our assistance as a facade for their lack of political will to make real reform.

We expect our partners in Central America to show political will to break with the past to curb unsafe and illegal immigration and corruption.

Russia clearly is involved with Venezuela. They very visibly sent troops there to try to buck up Maduro.

You cannot have elections and then just ignore the results.

It is not working for the people if you do not let the people make a choice.

They should do that and abide by the result. If they do not, we are making clear that there are going to be some serious consequences in their relationships throughout the region.

But for those who seek to maintain the status quo, we will not let them use our assistance as a facade for their lack of political will to make real reform.