American Enterprise Institute What is next for US-Venezuela policy? A conversation with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) Introduction: Roger F. Noriega, AEI Opening remarks: Rick Scott, US Senate (R-FL) Discussion: Roger F. Noriega, AEI Rick Scott, US Senate (R-FL) 8:30–9:30 a.m. Thursday, April 11, 2019 Event Page: https://www.aei.org/events/what-is-next-for-us-venezuela-policy-a- conversation-with-sen-rick-scott-r-fl/ Roger F. Noriega: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to AEI. Here at AEI, we’re expanding our program covering Latin American issues, looking at important challenges for US security, opportunities for our foreign policy. And we welcome you here to be part of that to welcome Sen. Scott, who is emerging as a — well, has been — a very important leader in our country on these issues, to discuss the issue of Venezuela. Venezuela is a mafia state. It is a grave threat to regional stability and US security. President Trump deserves credit for confronting the challenge that his predecessor chose to ignore. Sixty countries have joined him in supporting Venezuela’s National Assembly and declaring Nicolás Maduro an illegitimate usurper. Interim President Juan Guaidó has rallied his people to stand up to the dictatorship. Although about a thousand members of Venezuela’s military has answered that call, that does not come close to tipping the balance against a regime which imposes its will by military force. In the meantime, the country continues to fall apart. Oil production is plummeting. Nationwide blackouts complicate the people’s daily search for fresh food, safe water, medical care, and per- sonal security. According to a friend of mine who’s an expert engineer in the electricity grid — he knows everything about the grid inside and out — the network is so fouled up that when the lights go on, it’s practically by accident. Thirty million Venezuelans are surviving on the knife’s edge. Unless the Maduro regime begins to feel real heat and the people have real hope, millions more refugees may begin to flood into neighboring countries. What began as a showdown with tropical dictators of Venezuela and Cuba became a big power confrontation when China and Russia decided recently to dig in. Maduro and his backers, China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, Hezbollah, narco-traffickers, don’t give a damn if there’s a humanitarian cri- sis that spirals out of control and Venezuelans begin to die by the thousands. But of course, we do care. The question remains: What are we prepared to do if that catastrophe unfolds? We’re here this morning, seeking an answer to that very question. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida is a recent arrival in Washington, but he has been studying this issue carefully for many years. As governor, he made sure that Florida’s dollars did not reach the dictatorship. He has met regularly with military commanders stationed in Florida who would lead any operation against the regime. He has President Trump’s ear on this complex subject, where the administration is trying to res- cue the Venezuela and begin a transition to democracy. Sen. Scott served as the 45th governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019. During his tenure, Florida created 1.7 million new jobs. He also cut over 10 billion dollars in taxes, and the economy grew in eight years by over 30 percent. Under his leadership, Florida cut red tape, eliminated 5,000 regulations, as well as the size of the government, and he expanded school choice. He also made Florida one of the best states in the nation in terms of educational affordability. Sen. Scott served in the United States Navy from 1971 to 1974. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri in Kansas City and a juris doctor from Southern Methodist University. Sen. Scott will offer his remarks on the situation in Venezuela, which will be followed by our discussion and your questions. Senator. Rick Scott: Thank you, Roger, for the introduction. Good morning. And I want to thank every- body for being here today. I want to thank the American Enterprise Institute for hosting this event on such an important topic. The crisis in Venezuela is the crisis in America. Sen. Rubio, Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, and I have been talking about this for years. And we have worked on the White House on a com- prehensive strategy. Now more than over — now more than 200,000 Venezuelans live in Flor- ida, and their concerns are clearly our concerns. Make no mistake: This is absolutely a crisis. It’s a humanitarian crisis that threatens the lives of the people of Venezuela and has created an unbelievable flood of refugees numbering in the mil- lions. It’s also a crisis that threatens the safety and security of our allies in Latin America and eventually of the United States of America. The dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro and the creeping influence and military presence of our global adversaries represent a clear and present danger to the entire Western Hemisphere. There are some who will say that this isn’t our fight, that the millions of Venezuelans suffering 2,000 miles away are not our concern. Some have criticized the mere mention of the crisis in Venezuela by those like myself as American imperialism or a US-backed coup. I completely re- ject that. This is our fight. Freedom and democracy in Latin America is our fight. And I remind these critics that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. We cannot let evil triumph in Venezuela. It would be a failure of leadership with disastrous long- term consequences. There is only one option left to get rid of the — get aid to the people of Venezuela. It’s some- thing nobody wants to talk about. It’s becoming clear that we’ll have to consider the use of American military assets to deliver aid. Maduro and his thugs have left us no choice. Now how did we get to this point? First off, like Roger, I applaud President Trump and his administration for taking bold action by recognizing Juan Guaidó as a legitimate president of Venezuela and organizing the international community to do the same. I think they did a great job. The sanctions implemented by this ad- ministration against the Maduro regime and its puppet masters in Havana reflect their commit- ment to freedom and democracy in Latin America. And yet, Maduro remains in power. The peo- ple of Venezuela continue to suffer. And the influence of Cuba, Russia, China, and international terrorist organizations continues to grow. We must do more. But in order to understand where we go from here, we just need to look at history. Hugo Chávez might have been elected democratically, but he never intended to govern that way. He built a socialist dictatorship by hollowing out all of the democratic institutions: the constitu- tion, the electoral system, and the courts. He made civil society in the business sector bend to his will or face elimination. He nationalized entire sectors of the economy and used them to pay off his cronies. He took over the oil sector and made the national energy company his piggy bank. And he made common cause with our enemies, most notably the Castro regime. Cuba received and continues to receive free oil from Venezuela and, in return, provides political and internal security operatives. In other words, Cuba provided and is still providing military thugs to help stop freedom. Chávez allowed his regime to engage in illegal trafficking of drugs and people. And he cooperated with Middle Eastern terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and the terror state of Iran. This cooperation has only intensified under Chávez’s successor, Maduro. The path of socialism chosen by the Chavistas inevitably led to a failed state that relies on the world’s bad actors for survival. The result is one of the worst humanitarian crises in our hemi- sphere’s history. We cannot ignore the impact that these socialist policies of Chávez and Maduro have had on the people of Venezuela. Nine of 10 households, they don’t have enough money to buy food. That’s socialism. Eighty percent of children under 5 are in some state of malnutrition. That’s socialism. Inflation is over 10 million percent this year, and their currency is absolutely worthless. What’s that mean for the average person? A bundle of carrots cost three million bolivars; a dozen eggs costs 150 US dollars. That’s socialism. Venezuela has the highest murder rate in the world. That’s socialism. More than 3.5 million refugees, about 12 percent of the population, have fled to neighboring countries because they can’t get food, water, medicine, or safety from their government. Two million more Venezuelans are expected to flee before the year’s out, with Colombia taking the brunt of this refugee crisis. Colombian resources are strained as they do all they can to help the refugees fleeing persecution, starvation, and sickness, while the Maduro regime blocks aid cara- vans, sets them on fire, and continues to cooperate with the narco-trafficking rebels that plague Colombia. I want to thank my good friend President Duque for all he’s doing. Other nations and regions such as Brazil and Peru have also pitched in. They’ve accepted hun- dreds of thousands of refugees. For weeks, millions of Venezuelans have been left without running water in a series of massive blackouts. Journalists report that scenes that are now a part of the daily life for Venezuela: Dozen sleep in line for their turn at a well in one of the city’s biggest slums.