I acknowledge your assistance and relationship, and I applaud your guts of conviction to speak the truth to power even when it is tough. These nations that picked to stay away from ballot or voted against the resolution at the OAS concerning the circumstance in Venezuela, I desire you to know that your choice just advances injustice and tyranny in the Americas.
It is my.
hope that you will reconsider how your vote on these type of issues in the future. Ultimately, all of us have a responsibility to actively secure liberty in the Americas, however that can just need extremely hard choices. Mr. Sires. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for collaborating on this hearing, and I wish to thank the witnesses for being here today. Thank you quite. The Caribbean is frequently referred to as America's third border and I agree with this description. With almost 45 million individuals incorporating 16 independent countries and 14 overseas areas, the Caribbean is a varied region that includes a few of the hemisphere's wealthiest.
and poorest countries. It is an area of fantastic economic and cultural, political and security ties to the United States. The U.S.-Caribbean relationship is characterized by comprehensive financial linkages, significant security cooperation, and continued U.S. Over the past 3 years, the administration has put forth a new effort supporting energy diversification and clean, sustainable energy projects to enhance the area's energy security and to help it move away from its reliance on oil from Venezuela. Additional hints Venezuela, which has long subsidized energy costs to lots of Latin American and Caribbean nations, must turn inward to save itself from economic and political collapse. In the middle of these unpleasant times we should work.
with our Caribbean partners to diversify energy sources, enhance their economies, and develop upon a mutual security interest. On the legislative front, last month the Home approved H (How to find the finance charge).R. How to finance a house flip. This act is designed to increase engagement with the Caribbean that needs the Secretary of State to submit a multiyear strategy to Congress for U.S. engagement with the Caribbean regions and update on its U.S. diplomatic effort to engage the eastern Caribbean countries. As a global power, the United States deals with obstacles and hazards from every corner of the world. Nevertheless, it is vital that we stay taken part in the Western Hemisphere and not lose sight of our interests so near home. I look forward to speaking with our witnesses on how the U.S. efforts in the Caribbean can enhance and how America can continue to strengthen its collaboration with our Caribbean next-door neighbors. Mr. Duncan. I will thank the ranking member, and I will simply state I don't know the number of other members we are going to have today. We have adjourned for the August recess break and we wished to continue. Knowing that we were going to adjourn, we were ready to continue with this hearing because that is how important it is to the ranking Learn here member and myself, so don't think because no other members appear that it isn't a crucial problem to the committee and to the subcommittee. And I eagerly anticipate hearing from the witnesses who are extremely well understood to the.
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committee so their bios are available to us, and I will acknowledge Eric Farnsworth for 5 minutes. ERIC FARNSWORTH, VICE PRESIDENT, COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS AND AMERICAS SOCIETY Mr. Farnsworth. Well, Mr. Chairman, thank you really much for continuing with the hearing on such an important topic. Thank you for your leadership overall on these problems in addition to the Caribbean particularly, and Mr. Ranking Member, you too. It is actually essential to have a bipartisan voice on these concerns and we keep in mind that. We take complete satisfaction in that and thank you for that management, and we ask that that would continue in get more info some method offered the value of the concerns at hand. The United States does have strategic concerns.
in the Caribbean Basin and we don't typically speak about it in that method, however in my view they are tactical, from assistance for democratic institutions-- some of which are quite delicate; a few of which are strong and long-lasting-- we have security interests including drug trafficking, counterterrorism, the battle against financial criminal offenses, certainly immigration and humanitarian issues, energy, the environment, economic development; it is a very wide variety of issues to which the United States has interest. Mr. Sires. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Duncan. The Chair will now go to Mr. Yoho from Florida. Mr. Yoho. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate you putting this together, and I want to thank you for putting the pivot on our neighbors in the Caribbean. As you have stated which we have seen, and it is not just this administration, it is probably over the last 20 or thirty years where we have actually taken our eye off the ball in the Caribbean. When we have country states that near to us with like cultures, you understand, we value the same things, our family values, things like that, that near to us, and we take the eye off of that we start losing our competitiveness and we have seen that.
And it is so essential down because area and we want people, you know, primary is to be safe in that area. And with the disputes going on worldwide we do not desire them to attack in that area and sadly, we are beginning to see that. And I believe one of the biggest things is President Maduro, after Chavez, seeing what is going on in Venezuela. And we have actually seen in the past, when you have self-appointed totalitarians that pertain to power and when they fall there is a vacuum filled. We have actually seen that around the world.