Chris Smith

We have a long history with and commitment to the Nicaraguan people, and the values we hold dear suggest we remain engaged.

Many people, and I include myself among them, saw Ortega's candidacy as unconstitutional from the series of questionable maneuvers from institutions he controls.

I am standing for U.S. interests against Ortega's new assault on Nicaragua's democratic process and institutions.

It is critical that we line up behind the people and the organizations doing the tough work on behalf of democracy in this hemisphere, including the OAS.

We cannot afford to let these injustices continue without any consequences.

So you say they are adequate and they are ready to go right now.

This was a real setback for democracy in that country; and, second, Daniel Ortega will most likely be President for another 5-year term.

Natan Sharansky made a very famous speech where he talked about how you recognize when it is not just disagreeing with an Israeli policy, and he calls it the three Ds definition.

The more what is being censored and what exists in the censorship itself is known more clearly in detail by many people, the less effective that censorship is and the more people will demand more human rights and freedom of speech in…

As the nation that invented the Internet, and as the global standard bearer in both economic and political freedom, we must continue to lead in holding the Chinese government accountable, and we must lead by example.

We wanted to be there with him and his wife and show solidarity, and hopefully to let the Chinese know that we are watching and the world is watching, because our great fear is that they will beat him, and beat him to death.

The pressure, I think, will have to come from outside of Eritrea to a great extent.

the State Department doesn't designate India as a CPC country, has no watch list.

The support of some of the people in this administration, that they believe that Muslim Brotherhood is a peaceful organization, that is shocking to me.

I think that one of those ways is to demonstrate that religious freedom is an issue that transcends some of the kind of divisions...

I think the shock value for China... they have realized that there is next to no sanction that follows.

we kind of own Iraq in a sense that we, by being involved in the war, which was opposed by the Church, there is a responsibility now.

CPC status ought to be imposed upon Vietnam.

Doesn't that strike you as absurd that the West--I mean, even the idea of foreign availability being a loophole...

It is terrible, absolutely terrible, and we must stand up and do something.

I think that the ongoing work around religious freedom is vital and the work of this committee...

the creators of the IRF Act understood this.

It is baffling as to why--when we did this legislation and all of the hearings were held in this room by yours truly on Frank Wolf's bill and he testified, and he was obviously the author of the legislation, but we never meant that the…

I see that things are getting far worse in China toward everyone who cares about human rights, workers rights, but especially toward those who manifest a belief in God, or, in the case of the Falun Gong, a spiritual exercise.

you see a lot of the same problems, Mr. Chairman.