Supporting the Efforts of AMAVEX and Other Venezuelans in Exile to Show the Associations Between Chavez and the Farc

Floor Speech

SUPPORTING THE EFFORTS OF AMAVEX AND OTHER VENEZUELANS IN EXILE TO SHOW THE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN CHAVEZ AND THE FARC -- (Extensions of Remarks - September 16, 2008)

SPEECH OF
HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART
OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

* Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I rise today in support of the efforts of AMAVEX, a group of Venezuelan exiles who work, along with more than thirty non-profit organizations, in support of the ``Bring Chavez to Justice'' campaign. This campaign aims to highlight the troubling associations between Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and the Marxist-terrorist group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC.

* The FARC has been listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States government since 2001. Between 1996 and January 2008, the FARC kidnapped 6,877 people including three U.S. citizens who were recently liberated by the valiant efforts of Colombia's government. Mark Gonsalves, an American contractor kidnapped and held by the FARC for more than five years, described his ordeal at the hands of his captors and declared that the FARC are ``terrorists with a capital `T'.''

* Chavez supports the FARC unashamedly proclaims his admiration for this violent terrorist group. He described the FARC in January 2008 as ``a real army.'' While his praise is sometimes peppered with halfhearted criticisms of the FARC's narco-trafficking, kidnappings, and violence, his actions betray his true intentions. He welcomes the FARC to conduct operations along Venezuela's border with Colombia and does nothing to cooperate with Colombia and the U.S. to combat the terrorist group's drug trafficking within its borders.

* The computers and evidence that came from the raid that killed the FARC's second in command, Raul Reyes, also resulted in the discovery of evidence showing FARC-Chavez associations. Seized computer files reveal high level connections between the FARC and senior officials in the Chavez administration. These files, authenticated by INTERPOL, reveal hundreds of millions of dollars in payments from the Venezuelan government to the FARC. And, as recently as June of this year, Colombian officials captured four men, one who was a sergeant in Venezuela's national guard, for transporting 40,000 rounds of AK-47 ammunition to the FARC in Colombia.

* It is often said that one can judge a person by the company he keeps. In this context, we should all take note that just last Thursday, while Americans observed the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Chavez rejected all semblance of solidarity with the U.S. and our battle against terrorism by expelling the U.S. ambassador from Caracas. Chavez chooses the company of terrorists, drug traffickers, kidnappers and murderers, and severs diplomatic ties with the U.S. Chavez is a dictator who harbors terrorists.

* Madam Speaker, I rise in support of AMAVEX and the efforts of all Venezuelans to bring the terrorist associations of dictator Hugo Chavez to the world's attention.

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