Ros-Lehtinen: Shouldn’t Human Rights Reports Focus on Human Rights Abusers?

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, commented today on the release of the 2009 Annual Report of the Organization of American States’ (OAS) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which reviews the status of human rights in nations of the Western Hemisphere. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

“The most surprising aspect of this human rights report was not the mention of violations of human rights and civil liberties by the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes.

“Instead, what was startling was the OAS’s inexplicable and deeply alarming decision to present Colombia and Honduras – both free democracies with a strong commitment to human rights – as worse than the Cuban tyranny and the Chavez dictatorship.

“Shouldn’t human rights reports focus on real human rights abusers?

“By smearing Colombia and Honduras while minimizing the actions of real abusers in Cuba and Venezuela, the OAS is continuing its biased assault against true democracies in the region and moving further away from its mission and founding charter.

“When will the OAS wake up and stand up for the democratic principles upon which the organization was founded? When will it call a tyranny a tyranny and a democracy a democracy? When will it stand on the side of the people of the region, rather than with their oppressors?

“This report proves once again that it falls to the U.S. and other responsible nations to stand up for freedom and democracy in the Hemisphere. The OAS is derelict in its duties.” ######

House Foreign Affairs Committee U.S. House of Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican

For Immediate Release April 19, 2010 Contact: Brad Goehner, (202) 226-8467 Alex Cruz, (202) 225-8200

The Toxic VAT - The Senate votes against the tax, 85-13.

“Bipartisanship has broken out in the Senate, not that the media bothered to notice. Last week John McCain introduced a resolution stating that ‘It is the sense of the Senate that the Value Added Tax is a massive tax increase that will cripple families on fixed income and only further push back America's economic recovery.’ The resolution passed 85 to 13.”

The Wall Street Journal – Opinion The Toxic VAT

Press Releases: United States Senator John McCain Press Office April 20, 2010 United States Senate, 241 Russell Senate Ofc. Bldg. Washington, DC 20510, Main: (202) 224-2235, Fax: (202) 228-2862