Last week, the representative María Elvira Salazar ( R-FL ) testified about the importance of fighting foreign communist corruption at a hearing held by the United States Helsinki Commission. During his testimony, Representative Salazar described the legislation she has introduced to combat foreign corruption and examined additional ways in which the United States can strengthen its system to hold kleptocrats accountable for their atrocities.
The congresswoman also pointed to several Latin American countries, including Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, to highlight the devastating effects of corruption and kleptocracy.
You can see the full clip of Representative Salazar's comments here or read the full transcript below:
REMARKS:
“ Corruption is a monumental threat to freedom and human rights.
Many of today's dictators rule through corruption.
I call them kleptocrats: an elegant word for those who steal from their national treasure to enrich themselves.
As you know, they loot, exploit, and steal their people without mercy.
In the process, they destroy the rule of law and use that bloodstained and stolen money to finance marketing campaigns that present them as the saviors or redeemers of their country.
I know it very well.
Putin in Russia.
Ortega in Nicaragua.
Mature in Venezuela.
And Castro in Cuba.
For me, this is a personal tragedy.
I have seen this devastation brought by the kleptocrats to my innermost environment.
As you know, I am the daughter of political refugees who fled the Castro regime with their clothes on and five dollars in my pocket.
In 1960, Fidel Castro turned Cuba, an island with the same per capita income as Italy, into a satanic fourth world nightmare that continues to this day.
As a foreign correspondent for Spanish-language television in the United States, I informed and interviewed Chávez and Maduro.
Those two thugs, in just 20 years, have turned the richest country in South America into a state where the average Venezuelan weighs 15 pounds less today for lack of food.
Venezuela inherited oil, but also had Hugo Chávez.
Chávez implemented his democratic socialism of the 21st century and promised to end political corruption.
But instead, he created another kind of even more corrupt “ useful fools ”, as I name them, called the Plugged In.
Another perfect example is Alex Saab, who stole millions and millions from an organization that was supposed to distribute food to people's homes in Venezuela's most disadvantaged neighborhoods or neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua jailed my ex-husband, Arturo Cruz, whose only sin was running for president in the last election.
Arturo Cruz is currently in a military prison called Chipote and Ortega has just stolen another presidential election.
In addition to arranging the elections, Ortega's family and friends raised $ 29 million in 2019 alone.
There is nothing these thugs fear more than a free choice, because they are in the business of power.
They are not in the business of caring for their own people.
And as you said, these are not far-reaching problems for the United States.
The corrupt money that floods our country also destroys American lives.
The perfect example is the city of Miami, the city I represent in Congress.
Miami was a hotbed for drug money laundering in the ‘ 80s and this brought violence that spilled on the streets and hurt innocent bystanders.
On top of that, we got a very bad reputation with movies like Scarface and the Miami Vice television series.
That is what kleptocrats do to our city.
So I am committed to fighting corruption, a fight that could no longer be essentially American.
We have already made tremendous progress in this Congress and I am proud to be a founding member of the bipartisan caucus of Congress against foreign corruption and kleptocracy.
We are drawing attention to three pillars of counter-cleptocracy:
We keep dirty money out of the United States.
We are creating tools to dismantle these corrupt networks.
And we are helping freedom fighters build free societies abroad.
It is an honor for me to testify and work alongside my colleague Tom Malinowski.
Together we have led several bills to combat dictatorships, as you have just explained.
We present the version in the Chamber of the bill of the chairman Ben Cardin called the Law to Fight Global Corruption.
This would create an open reporting system for all countries, based on compliance with anti-corruption norms and standards created by the United States.
Following the investigation by Pandora Papers, Congressman Malinowski and I also introduced the ENABLERS Act.
This bill would require the private sector to question those professional enablers who help dictators bring money to the United States and inform the federal government of the source of that suspicious money.
Business with our country is a privilege; they are not a right.
Members of their families should not be allowed to travel, dine, and generously spend stolen money at our restaurants or shopping malls.
In other words, no more Saks or Broadway working together.
Congress and this Administration can block the entry of these murderous thugs into our country.
Thanks to you, to the efforts of the Helsinki Commission, we have recognized the existential nature of this threat and are responding strongly.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify before you today and I look forward to continued efforts to curb corruption and end brutal dictatorships, working bipartisan with members of Congress."
Original source can be found here.
