Congressman Cliff Bentz Statement Regarding the Events in Venezuela

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Congressman Cliff Bentz, (R-OR), has these comments regarding events in Venezuela:

The night of January 2nd the United States sent military aircraft into Venezuela, capturing Nicolas Maduro, president of Venezuela and his wife, Cilia Flores. The raid lasted about 150 minutes, following several months of preparation.  

Congressman Bentz states: “I want to thank the brave men and women of the United States military, and our intelligence services, for their work in completing this mission with outstanding skill, courage, and professionalism. 

Nicolas Maduro, successor to his equally brutal predecessor Hugo Chavez, for decades has operated a narco-terrorist network centered in Venezuela which has flooded our country with deadly drugs destroying the lives of thousands of Americans. His regime’s mismanagement, open corruption, and disregard for human rights has caused extensive economic and social instability in Venezuela and created the largest refugee crisis in the Western Hemisphere. Thanks to decisive action authorized by President Trump, Mr. Maduro will be brought to justice for his crimes, a result consistent with ongoing efforts to stop the export of cocaine from Venezuela and the blockade of its oil exports, profits from which have been used to fund Maduro’s illegitimate hold on power. 

Leaving Venezuela’s system of government in place while removing Maduro avoids creating a power vacuum which could easily throw the country into chaos, a situation which could be easily exploited by forces worse than Maduro’s regime. Thus, Venezuela’s authoritarian governing structure, undesirable as it is, was necessarily left in place. 

The Administration’s plan is to use sanctions, the blockade of oil exports, and the threat of another military strike to “leverage” change within Venezuela and to discourage countries such as Cuba, China, Iran, and groups such as Hezbollah (collectively the “Axis of Autocrats”) from entering into the Western Hemisphere. 

Helping protect the United States from foreign threats is one of the most important of a Congressman’s obligations. A Congressman must also oversee executive military operations.  As one who has seen friends and other Oregonians killed, horribly wounded, or rendered mentally unfit while fighting in foreign entanglements which started out as limited interventions and then grew into massive troop deployments, I have no interest whatsoever in militarily pursuing regime change in Venezuela. In my opinion, to this point, the Administration has operated within its constitutional limits, carefully, and for justifiable reasons. The Administration’s next steps must be as carefully designed and implemented, as was the capture of Maduro, but the plan going forward must be clearly explained and justified to the American people and to Congress.”

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