Good Evening Fellow Americans at the Washington Office on Latin America
I would like to begin by stating that it is an honor to be here, addressing the nation on our relations with our hemispheric neighbors in Latin America. First of all, I want to emphasize that it is our campaign and our party’s goal to build partnerships based on mutual respect with all of our hemispheric neighbors across Latin America. We want to build partnerships that promote prosperity, democracy and peace across Latin America and here in the United States. That being said, I would like to direct all of your attention to the biggest crisis that is going on in our hemisphere today. As we all know, Venezuela is in the midst of an economic collapse and humanitarian …show more content…
Crime has gone rampant as people are raiding grocery stores and pharmacies in search of necessities. Throughout all this, Nicolas Maduro still denies any humanitarian crisis is occurring and refuses to accept humanitarian aid. He is letting his people starve and die from curable infections by denying them these basic necessities. The military is responding to opposition by breaking up protests with tear gas and arrests. The National Assembly, which is controlled by the opposition, just recently tried holding a referendum to oust Maduro from presidency, but pro-Maduro judiciaries struck it down saying some of its signatures were fraudulent (Begley). The opposition’s next move was to put president Maduro on trial for his unconstitutional actions. However, that is not going to change anything because the Supreme Court is on Maduro’s side, along with the military. Maduro has frequently warned that “there will be a massacre” if the opposition takes power (Naím). These words are very alarming because it shows he is willing to kill in order to stay in …show more content…
Our biggest goal is to prevent violence between government and opposition forces. We also want to promote the holding of free elections and provide relief to the masses of people without basic necessities. President Obama, myself, intergovernmental organizations and human rights groups have all called on Maduro to end the human rights abuses and hold free and fair elections, and he has shown no intention of doing so. Therefore, I think the option of diplomatically working directly with Venezuela is out the window. Another route we could explore is intervention in Venezuela. Firstly, this would allow us to provide aid for its people, and secondly, to restore peace and democratic institutions. However, this approach would not fit with our goal to establish bilateral partnerships across Latin America. Intervening in Venezuela would incite strong disapproval from our allies and partners across the region. Therefore, I think our best path to achieving our goals is through working with regional governments and organizations to apply pressure on Maduro to release political prisoners, open the borders to relief and hold free
I would like to begin by stating that it is an honor to be here, addressing the nation on our relations with our hemispheric neighbors in Latin America. First of all, I want to emphasize that it is our campaign and our party’s goal to build partnerships based on mutual respect with all of our hemispheric neighbors across Latin America. We want to build partnerships that promote prosperity, democracy and peace across Latin America and here in the United States. That being said, I would like to direct all of your attention to the biggest crisis that is going on in our hemisphere today. As we all know, Venezuela is in the midst of an economic collapse and humanitarian …show more content…
Crime has gone rampant as people are raiding grocery stores and pharmacies in search of necessities. Throughout all this, Nicolas Maduro still denies any humanitarian crisis is occurring and refuses to accept humanitarian aid. He is letting his people starve and die from curable infections by denying them these basic necessities. The military is responding to opposition by breaking up protests with tear gas and arrests. The National Assembly, which is controlled by the opposition, just recently tried holding a referendum to oust Maduro from presidency, but pro-Maduro judiciaries struck it down saying some of its signatures were fraudulent (Begley). The opposition’s next move was to put president Maduro on trial for his unconstitutional actions. However, that is not going to change anything because the Supreme Court is on Maduro’s side, along with the military. Maduro has frequently warned that “there will be a massacre” if the opposition takes power (Naím). These words are very alarming because it shows he is willing to kill in order to stay in …show more content…
Our biggest goal is to prevent violence between government and opposition forces. We also want to promote the holding of free elections and provide relief to the masses of people without basic necessities. President Obama, myself, intergovernmental organizations and human rights groups have all called on Maduro to end the human rights abuses and hold free and fair elections, and he has shown no intention of doing so. Therefore, I think the option of diplomatically working directly with Venezuela is out the window. Another route we could explore is intervention in Venezuela. Firstly, this would allow us to provide aid for its people, and secondly, to restore peace and democratic institutions. However, this approach would not fit with our goal to establish bilateral partnerships across Latin America. Intervening in Venezuela would incite strong disapproval from our allies and partners across the region. Therefore, I think our best path to achieving our goals is through working with regional governments and organizations to apply pressure on Maduro to release political prisoners, open the borders to relief and hold free