Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Pages H3453-H3454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
UNDERSTANDING RISKS OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTION IN VENEZUELA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Gaetz) for 5 minutes.
[[Page H3454]]
Mr. GAETZ. Mr. Speaker, after meeting with President Trump yesterday
regarding the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, I rise to praise the Trump
administration for its mindful and strategic response to conditions in
that country.
All options must be on the table, including military force.
My constituents would likely be among the first in that fight. I am
incredibly proud of them. If asked, they will successfully execute any
mission that they are called to do.
Policymakers have an obligation not to send any of America's sons and
daughters into any ill-advised conflict. The Trump administration
clearly understands the risks associated with military intervention in
Venezuela at this time. They include a few things.
First, if the United States military were to have troops on the
ground in Venezuela today, it is very likely that the Maduro regime
would scapegoat their own failures.
The people of Venezuela voted their way into socialism, and now it
appears they have to fight their way out of it. While this should be a
lesson to us all, military intervention should not be presented as an
opportunity for the Maduro regime to explain away why people in
Venezuela have no medicine, have no food, are starving, and at times
see their own countrymen turning tanks and weapons against them.
Those failures belong to the Maduro regime. Those failures belong to
the socialist dictatorship.
Were we to intervene in an unwise way, potentially, that would create
confusion about the conditions that led to these terrible
circumstances.
Second, if the United States military were to intervene at this time,
it is my concern that it would allow the Maduro regime to externalize
their conflict.
It is no surprise to any in this Chamber or many in the Trump
administration that there remains some latent resentment within pockets
of Latin America regarding U.S. intervention, regime change, and
nation-building.
At a time when we are seeing democratic successes and governments
stood up that are beginning to provide for their citizens, it would be
deeply unwise to stoke any anti-American resentment with ill-advised
conflict.
Right now, Maduro functionally lacks material support from the
forward-thinking countries in the Western Hemisphere, and we would not
want to create any opportunity for there to be a call to the new
Bolivarian alliance.
Ultimately, that is what a lot of these transnational criminal
organizations want in Venezuela. They want to erode nation-states and
borders. They want to end nationalism in our hemisphere so that they
have a more permissive environment for their illicit activities.
Third, the Trump administration clearly understands that, if the
United States were deemed to be too involved in the popular uprising in
Venezuela, Maduro would potentially have the opportunity to deny the
organic desires of Venezuelans to fight for their own freedom.
The reason people are rising up in Venezuela right now is not a
consequence of the United States Government. It is a consequence of the
failures of their own government and their passionate desire for
freedom, one that we should stand with the people of Venezuela to
execute.
Despite these conditions and despite the challenges, I remain hopeful
that there is a brighter future for Venezuela. As we meet and gather
now, Juan Guaido is able to go about the country freely. Despite not
having a military, despite not having staff, he is able to rally
thousands of his fellow countrymen in public squares and make the
argument for freedom.
Meanwhile, the coward Maduro remains huddled up in a military base,
unable to move around and unsure who will turn on him next.
If the last quarter century has taught our country anything about the
nature of freedom, it is that freedom has to be fought for hardest by
those who yearn to live it. Freedom cannot be the gift that America
gives other countries, purchased solely with the currency of the blood
of U.S. servicemembers.
People have to fight for freedom and earn it. They have to die for
it. They have to bury their relatives over it. Then they have to love
it and care for it so much that they will never let another strongman
take it away from them and so that they will never fall victim to the
passions that led Venezuela down this dark path to socialism,
dictatorship, starvation, and desperation.
We stand with the people of Venezuela, and they must stand now to
fight for a better future for their country.
____________________