ICYMI: Diaz-Balart in The Floridian: Buying 'Blood oil' from Russia, Iran and Venezuela Threatens America
Buying 'Blood oil' from Russia, Iran and Venezuela Threatens America | Opinion
Buying 'Blood oil' from Russia, Iran and Venezuela Threatens America | Opinion
Op-Ed: Mario Diaz-Balart
March 8, 2022
Excerpts below; read the full op-ed in The Floridian HERE.
I am deeply alarmed by reports that high-level U.S. representatives met in person, in secret, with Maduro and his cronies in an attempt to lessen sanctions on the Maduro regime at a time when the Biden Administration is seeking new petroleum resources from anywhere but North America.
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The regimes of Venezuela, Russia, Cuba, Communist China, and Iran have formed a dangerous malignancy that we must confront with a consistent foreign policy that puts America’s national security interests and freedom at the forefront. A principled position does not allow for trading one anti-American dictator for another, particularly when these dictators work together against our national interests.
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At times of crisis such as these, we need moral clarity. Former Russian political prisoner Natan Sharansky said, “In dictatorships you need courage to fight evil; in the free world you need courage to see evil.” We cannot sell out the freedom of the Venezuelan people with weakened sanctions and blood oil. Instead, we must pursue a policy that prioritizes U.S. national security interests and freedom rather than securing a new deal with a different devil.
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