On the House Floor, Ros-Lehtinen Blasts Certain OAS Member States for Supporting Murderous Maduro Regime

On the House Floor, Ros-Lehtinen Blasts Certain OAS Member States for Supporting Murderous Maduro Regime

“The deteriorating situation in Venezuela is an important matter for the region, and for our own interests, Mr. Speaker, and our message must be to those countries that continue to vote against the people of Venezuela: Stop being cowards. Be courageous. Stand up to these corrupt bullies in Venezuela. Do it for the people of Venezuela. How many more of them have to give their lives for you to wake up?”

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, made the following statement on the House Floor regarding the Organization of American States (OAS) failure to secure the votes to fully enforce a resolution condemning the Maduro regime’s work to undermine the democratically elected National Assembly in Venezuela.

 To view Ros-Lehtinen’s remarks, please click here

Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

“Mr. Speaker, last week’s General Assembly meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Cancun was intended to get greater support from the region to hold Nicolas Maduro and his regime accountable for their horrific actions against the Venezuelan people.

However, we fell short of the 23 votes needed to fully enforce a resolution condemning Maduro for convening a fake constituent assembly with the purpose of undermining the democratically elected national assembly.

I commend the 20 nations – thank you to the 20 nations - that stood up to the Venezuelan tyrant, especially I want to single out Barbados, Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Guyana, and Belize.

To our allies in the Caribbean who voted with the people of Venezuela and not with the regime I say: thank you.

And to those who voted against the people of Venezuela and with the regime, my message to you is: wake up.

The Maduro regime is a sinking ship and as that economy continues to implode, it will take some of the Caribbean nations along with it.

It is in the best interests of the Caribbean nations to work with the United States, with Canada, with Mexico and other regional allies to put an end to the abusive tactics of the Maduro regime once and for all.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, countries like Nicaragua, whose leader Ortega is a kindred spirit of Maduro, spoke out to oppose the meeting and criticized the OAS for what it called interference in Venezuela’s domestic issues.

Ortega condemned the OAS for taking its rightful action to apply the Inter-American Democratic Charter for Venezuela, yet Ortega wants us to believe that he is in favor of negotiating in good faith with the OAS to improve the electoral, the political, and the human rights situation in Nicaragua – what a farce.

Ortega has been doing Maduro’s bidding at the OAS since day one and we see right through him.

Ortega has illustrated time and again that he is not interested in any reforms nor is he interested in restoring any democratic values back to the people of Nicaragua.

But Ortega was not the only one who abandoned the people of Venezuela.

No.

El Salvador is another nation that has not once voted alongside the U.S. on issues related to Venezuela, even though we continue to provide funds for the Central American Alliance for Prosperity plan.

They like our money, they just don’t want to look at things our way at all.

Last week, I signed onto a letter that my dear friend Albio Sires of New Jersey. He led this letter to the Department of Treasury urging it to designate the El Salvadorian Deputy Foreign Minister, Jose Luis Merino, as a Foreign Narcotics Kingpin for his ties to illicit activities, drug trafficking, and money laundering for the FARC – the FARC that is a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization.

It is pathetic that the Venezuelan regime continues to use certain countries at the OAS as its puppets to shield itself from regional criticism.

In the last two months, Mr. Speaker, more than 70 people have been killed by Maduro’s regime in Venezuela. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds have been arrested. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds have been injured by the violence – including a 17 year old protestor who was shot in point blank range by pro-Maduro police thugs.

It is unacceptable for us to sit idly by as this cruelty continues to happen.

It is a disgrace that the region could not come together in a united front to call out the Maduro regime for the violent thugs that they are, a disgrace to our democratic principles and values, and a disgrace to the Inter-American Democratic Charter for which the OAS stands.

The deteriorating situation in Venezuela is an important matter for the region, and for our own interests, Mr. Speaker, and our message must be to those countries that continue to vote against the people of Venezuela:

Stop being cowards.

Be courageous

Stand up to these corrupt bullies in Venezuela.

Do it for the people of Venezuela.

How many more of them have to give their lives for you to wake up?

And if you don’t stop to reassess your support for Maduro and your willingness to turn a blind eye toward the suffering of the Venezuelan people, perhaps America will start to reassess its relationship with you.”

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