Ron Klein: “I rise to put the spotlight on an ominous trend in our region. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have left New…”

“I rise to put the spotlight on an ominous trend in our region. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have left New York, but he remains close by. From the U.N. General Assembly, Mr. Ahmadinejad flew to Bolivia and then to his friend, Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela. Ahmadinejad, with his hate-filled rhetoric and his funding of global terror, is too close for comfort. I rise to urge our friends in Latin America to refuse the Iranian president's advances and see him for what he is: a bully who disregards international will and who ignores our efforts against terrorism. The 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Community Center shows that the Iranian presence in Latin America has been dangerous in the past. This week, Argentina called on the U.N. General Assembly to urge Iran to more fully cooperate with the investigation so that justice can finally be served for this heinous act of terrorism. Coming from south Florida where I live, when something happens in Latin America, we feel it. My district has many economic and familial ties to Latin America. Our friends in Latin America have been our partners in fighting terrorism, and we look forward to continuing our mutually beneficial partnership with these countries to make our areas safe and more secure.”