Political Quotes

“I thank Mr. Sires for such an eloquent statement on behalf of the beleaguered and embattled Venezuelan people. Before I yield so proudly to Mr. Castro of Texas, another member of our Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, I would like to say just a few words about the continuing human rights abuses and the deteriorating situation in Venezuela. As we have heard from Mr. Sires, we are dealing with a corrupt dictatorship, and we are dealing with a brutal dictatorship. At least 42 are dead and 90 arrested since protests began in March of 2017, you can see on this poster. This is a dictatorship that will go to all lengths to maintain its tight grip on power and silence the opposition by tear gas, by real bullets, by jailing, and by intimidation. The people of Venezuela are literally dying, Mr. Speaker, on the streets from the violence of the Maduro regime. They are dying on the streets from starvation, and they are dying from the lack of medical supplies, yet they still risk their lives. This goes on each and every day in Venezuela. They go out into the streets. They demonstrate to the world that they will not be silenced, and what they desire is freedom, and what they desire is democracy, and what they desire is nothing less and nothing more than their God-given human rights, the very same intangibles that many in America here take for granted because we live in the greatest country in the world. We take for granted that we have our freedom.…”