Obama - Venezuelans need your support to bring democracy to their country

By Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) - 03/24/14 

The palpable absence of a coordinated strategy in support of the pro-democracy advocates in Venezuela is evident and yet another in a string of missed opportunities by the Obama administration to promote U.S. interests and freedom around the world.

For longer than a month now, a crisis in Venezuela has been escalating, but the stage for this had been set with the death of Hugo Chavez last March and the contested presidential elections that followed. Now, according to Venezuelan non-governmental organizations, the regime of President Nicolás Maduro is responsible for almost 30 killed, nearly 60 reported cases of torture, more than 1,500 people unjustly detained, and hundreds injured with very little attention from the Obama administration and with no reasonable end in sight.

The attacks against the Venezuelan people by the Maduro regime also have serious links to Cuba, a U.S. designated state sponsor of terrorism. The Castro regime uses military advisers and Cuban troops to help the Maduro regime suppress the calls of the Venezuelan people for democracy, freedom and human rights.
Furthermore, the Venezuelan mayors of San Cristobal and San Diego, and opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez have been unjustly arrested. And Diosdado Cabello — one of the country’s most dangerous goons — has threatened that another opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, may be arrested and charged with bogus accusations as well.

On March 13, Secretary of State John Kerry testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and to my disappointment but not to my surprise, he failed to address the situation in Venezuela in both his written testimony and opening statement to the committee.  This lack of attention to this crisis is insulting and represents the foreign policy strategy of the Obama administration to stick their heads in the sand and hope these problems go away by themselves. When I pressed Kerry on Venezuela during the hearing, he responded that it is time for the Organization of American States (OAS), and neighboring countries, to focus on Venezuela and hold Maduro accountable.

I can only assume that Kerry forgot that the OAS has already tried to focus on Venezuela and failed miserably. On March 7, the OAS passed a watered-down declaration that failed to hold the Maduro regime accountable, which precipitated the U.S. permanent representative, as well as the Canadian and Panamanian representatives, to vote against this weak declaration. The lack of U.S. leadership in our region has only emboldened these tyrants to violate human rights with impunity.

Maduro’s bullying tactics have even extended as far north as Washington, D.C. On March 21, the OAS was set to convene an ordinary session of the Permanent Council, and Panama was willing to allow Machado to address the council as a member of its delegation. But Maduro and his Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America lackeys, such as Nicaragua, quickly moved to make the session private. Then the Venezuelan delegation successfully managed to lobby the council to remove the topic of the Venezuelan crisis from the agenda. Yet perplexingly, the administration falsely believes that the OAS shares our concern over Venezuela.

When Honduran officials acted in 2009 to remove former President Manuel Zelaya, in accordance with the country’s constitution, the U.S. led the effort to expel Honduras from the OAS and revoked visas of Honduran nationals. Yet, when students are being killed in the streets of Caracas by the Maduro regime, the Obama administration echoes the same hollow words and responds with no action.

The president has issued an executive order to sanction individuals who have undermined the democratic process and threatened the security of Ukraine, but no similar order has been signed to target Venezuelan officials who have acted in the same manner. And so, if the Obama administration will not act, Congress will lead the way.

Last week, I introduced, alongside more than a dozen congressional colleagues, a bipartisan bill: H.R. 4229, the Venezuelan Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act. It calls on the president to impose targeted sanctions on Venezuelan officials who have committed or have been complicit in human rights violations by denying them visas to enter our country, blocking their property, freezing their assets and prohibiting them from conducting financial transactions in the United States.

This bill will neither hurt the people of Venezuela, nor will it impact the Venezuelan economy. Instead, it is targeted to those Venezuelan officials who have fired rubber bullets and tear gas into crowds and those who are responsible for human rights violations. In response to this legislation, Maduro has blamed my colleagues and me for Venezuela’s ills. This is just another attempt by Maduro to distract from his failed policies that have caused staggering inflation and food shortages. It is a badge of honor to be attacked by an autocrat who disdains basic democratic principles.

Ros-Lehtinen has represented Florida’s 27th Congressional District since 1990. She sits on the Rules and the Foreign Affairs committees, and is chairwoman of that panel’s subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.

Ros-Lehtinen on the Unjust Removal of Maria Corina from the Venezuelan Lider

Empower democracy, rein in tyrants

Empower democracy, rein in tyrants
BY ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

www.ros-lehtinen.house.gov
Sunday marked the conclusion of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. This meeting could have offered a valuable opportunity to stand up to the region's despotic leaders who claim that their radical visions -- rather than the voice of the people -- should usher in a new age in our hemisphere. It could have offered an opportunity to move forward on further agreements toward the realization of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. But that was not to be.
With U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton set to appear before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, it is critical that we press for the United States to advance a vigorous agenda that reflects America's long standing commitment to freedom and democracy as the bedrock of our policy in Latin America.
Democratic institutions in the hemisphere are under increasing assault from internal and external actors. Nicaragua's November municipal elections were widely recognized as illegitimate. In Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez has moved beyond attacks on property rights and freedom of press to an explicit and concerted campaign against his opposition. Bolivia and Ecuador have resumed their baseless accusations against the United States and continue to advance their authoritarian agendas.
Preying on the anti-American and anti-democratic sentiment promoted by the regimes of these countries, a realignment is taking place with rogue regimes such as Iran and Cuba. Using Chávez as his personal broker, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has joined forces with several of the above-mentioned countries to denounce U.S. democratic standards and threaten regional security objectives.
This planned assault on core democratic values and free market principles continued at the summit. Even responsible nations failed to counter the paltry moral equivalency arguments raised by repressive leaders and their enablers.
In fact, the summit discussions remind me of the farcical Durban 2 Conference taking place this week in Geneva. These forums have been hijacked by repressors, tyrants and regime leaders who deprecate democratic principles and ideals.
Several countries in the region used the summit to advocate, not for the rights of the Cuban people, but for the Cuban regime's undeserved return to the inter-American system. But the United States must not allow the picture of this hemisphere to be painted by those who despise liberty, nor by those who wish and work to do us harm. Rather, we must stand up for freedom and make support for our democratic allies the central tenet of our policy in the Western Hemisphere.
Security issues throughout the region are having a direct impact on the ability of responsible nations to advance democratic principles. From narcotrafficking to organized crime, Islamic radicals to the FARC in Colombia, and the influence of tyrannical regimes from Iran to Syria, the hemisphere is in critical need of a comprehensive model of partnership and responsibility that binds leaders to the obligations outlined in the Inter-American Democratic Charter and other such accords.
The United States must not falter in our expectation that countries we work with adhere to these values. Programs like the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compacts should be leveraged to ensure Americans are getting a return on our investments in the hemisphere.
In the aftermath of the summit, it will be up to Secretary Clinton to implement the U.S. agenda and up to the Congress to decide where taxpayer funds are most needed. With great economic challenges at home, we must ensure that our resources are focused on strengthening, supporting and empowering our democratic allies, rather than wasted on efforts that only benefit tyrants and oppressors.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.