01/02/2018
https://www.congress.gov...
"Elections are one element of a democracy, but without all the other aspects of what we would consider a democratic country-- independent branches of government, a judiciary that is honest, and a legal..."
"What more are we willing to do to help civil society in the hemisphere, to empower them to have the ability to try to perfect democracies in their countries?"
"As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the signing of the OAS Inter-American Charter, I wanted to convene a hearing to assess the progress of democracy in the hemisphere."
"We believe that the early presence of a sufficient number of credible and well-trained international observers will be important to the credibility of the process."