Chairman Duncan on the hearing: “This hearing should provide Subcommittee Members with a comprehensive look at the lay of the land in the Western Hemisphere, and give us some food for thought as the new Trump Administration begins to reveal their priorities for 2017.  I’m particularly interested in what our witnesses think policy priorities should be in Cuba and Venezuela, and in places that continue to receive large amounts of U.S. taxpayer funding like Colombia, Haiti and the Northern Triangle in Central America.  Clearly, the Administration will need to work on the bilateral relationship with Mexico, but the United States is certainly right to seek to enforce our borders and protect our precious sovereignty.  I welcome the new Members of this Subcommittee and look forward to working with them in the 115th Congress.”

Opening Statements

Witnesses

Ms. Sally Yearwood
Executive Director
Caribbean-Central American Action
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Mr. Joseph M. Humire
Executive Director
Center for a Secure Free Society
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Mr. Jose Cardenas
(Former Acting Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, U.S. Agency for International Development)
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Mr. Peter Quilter
Non-Resident Senior Fellow
Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

____________________________

Hearing transcript (PDF)