I acknowledge your support and friendship, and I commend your guts of conviction to speak the reality to power even when it is hard. These nations that selected to avoid voting or voted against the resolution at the OAS concerning the situation Go here in Venezuela, I want you to understand that your decision only furthers oppression and tyranny in the Americas.
It is my.
hope that you will reevaluate how your vote on these type of concerns in the future. Ultimately, we all have a responsibility to actively secure freedom in the Americas, however that can only require really hard options. Mr. Sires. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for working together on this hearing, and I want to thank the witnesses for being here today. Thank you quite. The Caribbean is frequently described as America's third border and I concur with this description. With practically 45 million people including 16 independent countries and 14 overseas territories, the Caribbean is a varied area that consists of a few of the hemisphere's richest.
and poorest countries. It is a region of excellent economic and cultural, political and security ties to the United States. The U.S.-Caribbean relationship is characterized by extensive financial linkages, substantial security cooperation, and continued U.S. Over the previous 3 years, the administration has actually put forth a new effort supporting energy diversity and tidy, sustainable energy projects to enhance the area's energy security and to assist it move far from its dependence on oil from Venezuela. Venezuela, which has long subsidized energy costs to numerous Latin American and Caribbean nations, need to turn inward to rescue itself from financial and political collapse. In the middle of these unpleasant times we should work.
with our Caribbean partners to diversify energy sources, strengthen their economies, and build on a mutual security interest. On the legal front, last month your house approved H (How old of an rv can you finance).R. How long can you finance a camper. This act is created to increase engagement with the Caribbean that needs the Secretary of State to send a multiyear plan to Congress for U.S. engagement with the Caribbean regions and upgrade on its U.S. diplomatic effort to engage the eastern Caribbean nations. As a global power, the United States faces challenges and hazards from every corner of the world. However, it is vital that we stay engaged in the Western Hemisphere and not lose sight of our interests so near to house. I eagerly anticipate hearing from our witnesses on how the U.S. efforts in the Caribbean can improve and how America can continue to reinforce its partnership with our Caribbean neighbors. Mr. Duncan. I will thank the ranking member, and I will just state I don't understand how lots of other members we are going to have today. We have actually adjourned for the August recess break and we wished to continue. Knowing that we were going to adjourn, we wanted to continue with this hearing since that is how essential it is to the ranking member and myself, so do not believe due to the fact that no other members appear that it isn't an important issue to the committee and to the subcommittee. And I eagerly anticipate speaking with the witnesses who are extremely well understood to the.
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committee so their bios are readily 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 very much for continuing with the hearing on such a vital topic. Thank you for your leadership in general on these concerns along with can you refuse to inherit a timeshare the Caribbean particularly, and Mr. Ranking Member, you too. It is actually crucial to have a bipartisan voice on these issues 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 some method offered is a timeshare a good idea the importance of the problems at hand. The United States does have tactical problems.
in the Caribbean Basin and we don't typically speak about it in that way, but in my view they are strategic, from assistance for democratic organizations-- a few of which are quite delicate; a few of which are strong and enduring-- we have security interests consisting of drug trafficking, counterterrorism, the fight against financial crimes, clearly immigration and humanitarian issues, energy, the environment, financial advancement; it is an extremely vast array of concerns 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 value you putting this together, and I want to thank you for putting the pivot on our neighbors in the Caribbean. As you have actually mentioned and that we have seen, and it is not just this administration, it is most likely 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 close to us with like cultures, you know, we value the very same things, our family values, things like that, that near us, and we take the eye off of that we begin losing our competitiveness and we have actually seen that.
And it is so essential down because area and we desire people, you know, number one is to be secure because area. And with the conflicts going on on the planet we don't want them to get into in that area and unfortunately, we are starting to see that. And I think among 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 concern power and when they fall there is a vacuum filled. We have seen that around the globe.