Marco Rubio

I have toured Kristi House and seen the wonderful work they have done first hand.

I definitely wanted to be here for the start of this and I've read all of your testimony on this important issue.

The Port of Miami is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world.

The industry accounted for about $6.3 billion in my state and direct spending in 2010 that generated over 123,000 jobs in Florida.

What I want to do is kind of posit a view of it to you and see what you both think about it.

It was startling to watch pro-American graffiti on the walls, and people walking up to you on the streets and thanking America.

I think long term they want to defeat the United States.

I think that in a broader sense the trip was a major failure, demonstrating mostly that Iran has lost political ground in the hemisphere.

I called this hearing to sift through the facts, discuss with the experts before us what about Iran's relationship with the nations of our hemisphere should be of serious concern, and discern the appropriate United States response.

To thank Senator Rubio for arranging a Coast Guard briefing in Miami, and for his support and collaboration on a U.S.-Caribbean Border Security Initiative to overcome the crime and drug challenges facing PR.

I think what you are saying is that there is nothing necessarily that would stand in your way of reaching out to them, and working with them, and having a close relationship with them.

I think it sends a terrible message to our friends and to moderate reformers in the region when the United States is silent about their well-being.

If confirmed, what would be your strategy to encourage the Burundi Government to collect data on law enforcement's efforts to combat trafficking?

We are very supportive of the autonomous region of the north, and you are absolutely right, has progressed in many ways.

I do not think that would be our position.

My last concern, and I think it is a broader issue, is the military continues to be unaccountable to the civilian leadership.

What exactly have they done that has been so promising to move them from a Tier 3 to a Tier 2?

Ultimately it is the right of people to choose any economic model they want. But it is the political opportunities that are most important.

I think they have been upgraded to a Tier 2.

Despite robust U.S. aid in bilateral and multilateral programs, food insecurity is a daily concern for millions of people around the world and a source of instability that impact U.S. interests abroad.

In addition to a deforestation problem on that border, there is the reality that on that border you can buy a child, that there are children that are trafficked and sold as child prostitutes both into the Dominican Republic and in those…

One of the major obstacles that I found to private investment in the country is the absence of a credible land registry.

The problem, of course, has been that over the years there are now people that have taken advantage of that system or have taken advantage of that problem and make it much, much worse.

There are tremendous opportunities there for the hemisphere if, in fact, Haiti can turn the corner and build for themselves a more prosperous society and a more functional government.

I think will play a critical role in the months to come as the Libyan people struggle to reach, for example, their own democratic aspirations.