While she is leaving Congress next year, South Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen shows no signs of slowing down on international issues.
Ros-Lehtinen, the first woman to ever chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee and currently wielding the gavel on the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, continued to show she is one of the leaders in the chamber on foreign policy, taking aim at the Organization of American States for not doing enough to confront the Maduro regime in Venezuela.
On Tuesday, Ros-Lehtinen took to the House floor to call out the OAS and the way it has handled the Maduro regime.
“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,” she said. “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,” Ros-Lehtinen continued. “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.”
The South Florida Republican slammed the Ortega regime in Nicaragua for its support of Maduro, calling its leader “a kindred spirit of Maduro." Ros-Lehtinen also called out the leadership of El Salvador for its support for Maduro and insisted the stakes are high.
“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,” Ros-Lehtinen said.
“It is unacceptable for us to sit idly by as this cruelty continues to happen,” she continued. “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.”
Also this week, Ros-Lehtinen’s resolution condemning Chechnya’s treatment of gay men--which includes imprisonment--passed the House. The resolution had 85 co-sponsors including Republican U.S. Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Ron DeSantis and Democrats U.S. Reps. Charlie Crist, Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel and Debbie Wasserman Schultz from Florida.
Ros-Lehtinen spoke in the House on Tuesday as to why she had brought out this resolution.
“Since early April, there have been credible reports that gay or perceived to be gay men in the Russian republic of Chechnya had been rounded up, have been detained, have been put into prison camps by the authorities of Chechnya,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “And according to international human rights groups and activists on the ground, the situation has rapidly escalated, and despite the international attention and the rage, the beatings and torture did not stop.
“Men continue to be tortured on a daily basis, and allegedly at least twenty men have been killed,” she added. “And the latest reports indicate that lesbians are also being targeted now. This government campaign targeting LGBT individuals is also inciting ‘honor killings.’ Families are being threatened and act out of fear of also being persecuted. This is appalling.”
The South Florida Republican accused the Putin government in Russia for encouraging the Chechnya government's treatment of gays.
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