Salazar, Maria Elvira: The Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, welcome to order. The purpose of the hearing is to examine the United States foreign policy in Latin America and the results of the President's decisive action to apprehend Nicolás Maduro on January the 3rd. I ask for unanimous consent of the members from Florida, Representative Carlos Jiménez and Representative Wasserman Schultz be allowed to sit on the dais and participate in today's hearing without objection, so ordered. And I recognize myself for an opening statement of less than five minutes. On January 3rd, after the fall of Maduro, the Western Hemisphere changed forever. For the first time in 30 years, Latin Americans are breathing the air of liberty. President Trump has done what no other administration has dared to do, and I'm talking about the last 30 years since Ronald Reagan, used American strength to spread freedom and democracy in the Western Hemisphere. There's a new Monroe Doctrine now called the Dunro doctrine. The results are evident in this hemisphere. In Cuba and in Nicaragua, the people finally have hope. In Colombia, after President Petro allowed coca crops to reach historic levels for the last five years, he visited the White House, met with the president, and all of a sudden, he began fighting the guerrillas in his country. In Panama, President Molino and the Supreme Court of that country canceled the Panama Canal concessions held by a Chinese Party front called C.K. Hutchinson. After decades, our neighbors are reclaiming control of their countries, and the awakening is spreading. In Peru, leaders now understand the dangers of a China owning a deepwater port at Chiang Kai with the potential of something called dual usage. That doesn't have a nice connotation. Dual usage. That's a direct threat in our hemisphere right in the country of Peru. For that reason, the new Peruvian government, which will be elected next June, must take it back, that port. Take it back, and the United States will help them under the Trump administration. Across the hemisphere, nations are realizing a long-ignored truth that you cannot outsource your sovereignty to the enemies of the United States of America, period. For that reason, the hemisphere is realigning against the dictators, and thank God that Cuba is next. Cuba has always been the epicenter of evil in the Western Hemisphere, unfortunately. Tyranny is their only export. They wrote the manual on repression, but now, with this new Dunro reality, the Cuban people are full of hope, and so is Miami, the city that I represent in this honorable body. They have taken to the streets more than 200 times in the last month alone. I'm talking about the Cubans on the island. They have even burned down the headquarters of the Communist Party in a city called Morón. Cubans have lost their fear, and even more important, they lost the belief in the invincibility of the Castro regime, which has lived in the soul of every Cuban for the last 65 years. That belief of the invincibility has been shattered by knowing that Donald Trump has not forgotten them. And the good news is that when people lose fear, the dictatorship is about to lose everything. Just days ago, the top Cuban figurehead called Díaz-Canel said on television that he was not leaving power, that he was not going anywhere. Well, Maduro, a few months ago, said the same thing, and look where he is now. For the first time, the entrenched Castro machine is vulnerable. You cannot reform a system that was built on repression. You only have to replace it. And when Cuba finally falls, it will not be the end of something. It will be the beginning of everything for the Western Hemisphere. It will be the last piece of the domino that will only lead to the most consequential expansion of liberty in our hemisphere for many generations to come. The communist regime in Cuba is on life support. Trump just needs to pull the plug. I am going to say a few words now to the Cubans in Spanish. I am going to say that, I'm going to say that, can I do that right now? I'm going to say that right now, and then I'm going to allow for the ranking member to give his statement. From the Federal Congress of the United States, we thank those who have come to participate in this hearing. I just want to send a message to the Cubans that we have not forgotten about them, that throughout the hemisphere, the airs of freedom are growing, and that thanks to the United States and this new policy of President Donald Trump, it has brought the airs of freedom to the hemisphere. Not only to Cuba, which everything indicates is going to be close, but also to Nicaragua, we already know what happened in Venezuela. To the Peruvians who have a new president in June, we are sending the message that dealing with the Chinese is not a good idea, and that such a strategic port has to return to the hands of the United States and to the hands of those of us who live in the Western Hemisphere, not the Chinese. That is why we thank you very much, not only the administration, but also these new airs of freedom that are being felt throughout the hemisphere. The chair now recognizes the ranking member from Texas, Representative Castro, for any statements he may have. You have five minutes. Thank you.