Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman Salazar Delivers Opening Remarks at Hearing on Latin America After the Fall of Maduro
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman Maria Salazar delivered opening remarks at a subcommittee hearing titled "Latin America After the Fall of Maduro".
-Remarks-
On January 3rd, after the fall of Maduro, the Western Hemisphere changed forever. For the first time in 30 years, Latin Americans are breathing the air of liberty. President Trump has done what no other administration has dared to do – and I'm talking about the last 30 years since Ronald Reagan – used American strength, strength to spread freedom and democracy in the Western Hemisphere.
There's a new Monroe Doctrine now called the Donroe Doctrine. The results are evident in this hemisphere. In Cuba and in Nicaragua, the people finally have hope. In Colombia after President Petro allowed coca crops to reach historic levels for the last five years, he visited the White House, met with the President, and all of a sudden he began fighting the guerrillas in his country. In Panama, Presidente Mulino and the Supreme Court of that country canceled the Panama Canal concessions held by a Chinese party front called CK Hutchinson.
After decades, our neighbors are reclaiming control of their countries, and the awakening is spreading. In Peru, leaders now understand the dangers of China owning a deep water port at Shanghai, with the potential of something called dual usage. That doesn't have a nice connotation. Dual usage. That's a direct threat in our hemisphere, right in the country of Peru. For that reason, the new Peruvian government, which will be elected next June, must take it back. That port, take it back, and the United States will help them under the Trump administration.
Across the hemisphere, nations are realizing a long ignored truth that you cannot outsource your sovereignty to the enemies of the United States of America, period. For that reason, the hemisphere is realigning against the dictators, and thank God that Cuba is next.
Cuba has always been the epicenter of evil in the Western Hemisphere, unfortunately. Tyranny is their only export. They wrote the manual on repression. But now, with this new Donroe reality, the Cuban people are full of hope, and so is Miami, the city that I represent in this honorable body. They have taken to the streets more than 200 times in the last month alone – I'm talking about the Cubans on the island. They have even burned down the headquarters of the Communist Party in the city, called Moron.
Cubans have lost their fear, and even more importantly, they lost the belief in the invincibility of the Castro regime, which has lived in the soul of every Cuban for the last 65 years. That belief of invincibility has been shattered by knowing that Donald Trump has not forgotten them. And the good news is that when people lose fear, the dictatorship is about to lose everything. Just days ago, the top Cuban figurehead called Diaz-Canel said on television that he was not leaving power, that he was not going anywhere.
Well, Maduro a few months ago said the same thing, and look where he is now. For the first time, the entrenched Castro machine is vulnerable. You cannot reform a system that was built on repression. You only have to replace it. And when Cuba finally falls, it will not be the end of something, it will be the beginning of everything for the Western Hemisphere. It will be the last piece of the domino that will lead to the most consequential expansion of liberty in our hemisphere for many generations to come. The communist regime in Cuba is on life support. Trump just needs to pull the plug.
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