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“VENEZUELA HUMANITARIAN SITUATION” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1446-H1447 on March 7, 2018.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
VENEZUELA HUMANITARIAN SITUATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to bring attention to the sad and tragic truth of what is going on in Venezuela today under a cynical socialist thug, the Maduro regime.
Even though this administration has stepped up and has taken a strong stance against Maduro--we have sanctioned a lot of individuals--there is still much more that needs to be done.
And the first step is getting more action by making sure that my fellow colleagues are aware of the ongoing crisis in Venezuela and helping those who refuse to believe that Maduro can be that bad. Yes, he really can be that bad. And we need to understand the suffering and the frustration of the Venezuelan people.
The second step is urging the administration to increase the pressure, to use the tools that are available to us, to hold Maduro and his evil cronies accountable. We have already seen how some of these tools are working, Mr. Speaker.
Our sanctions are working, so much so that Maduro is actively looking at ways to circumvent our sanctions, like this crazy idea of launching his own cryptocurrency. We are hitting him where it hurts, and we need to build on that momentum.
But we must also not forget to advocate on behalf of the people of Venezuela who are suffering, who are malnourished, and who are sick and poor. They lack the most basic medical and food supplies that they need--again, all as a result of Maduro's policies. Who would have ever thought 30 years ago that Venezuela, that was a breadbasket for South America, is now having food shortages throughout the country.
So I call on the international community to try to see what we can do to ease this humanitarian crisis that Venezuelans are going through, because this situation is terrible, but I fear that it will get worse.
Maduro and his thugs are taking advantage of the worsening humanitarian situation, defrauding organizations that are looking to bring much-needed food and medicine into the country, and making it much harder to deliver aid to those who desperately need it.
This is why my dear friend, Ranking Member Eliot Engel of our Foreign Affairs Committee, and I have introduced the Venezuela Humanitarian Assistance Act. This bill calls attention to the food shortages, to the water shortages, to the severe lack of medicine, to the severe lack of medical supplies, and to the lack of other vital goods and services. But, more importantly, it directs our great agencies--the USAID, especially, and the Department of State--to develop a plan to determine how the U.S. can help send in some humanitarian assistance through credible and independent nongovernmental organizations that are operating in Venezuela or in neighboring countries. It is very difficult to get that aid to the people who need it because Maduro does not want to help the suffering Venezuelan people.
This bill passed the House last year, and it sends a strong message that we see the millions of people of Venezuela who are suffering and that we want to help. As the political situation continues to deteriorate because socialism does not work, communism does not work, with Maduro announcing his sham of elections, another round of elections that only the opposition is shut out and only the cronies can win, political leaders are still in prison, and protestors continue to be met with violence, we must do what we can until this grave humanitarian crisis is resolved.
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That is why I urge the international community to take notice of what is going on in Venezuela, see how we can come together and pass these important measures so that we can help the Venezuelan people. We must not stop working until we see once again a free and open, democratic Venezuela, free from this socialist and communist regime.
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