Speech #1090062721

We are voting for an initiative that will strengthen democracy and promote prosperity in our hemisphere. It is a vote that will have enormous consequences for U.S. national security. because without economic growth and opportunity for the nations and people of Central America. the U.S. will inevitably be confronted with growing political instability and social unrest in our own backyard. Deprive Central America of economic opportunities. and we run the risk of a return to authoritarian regimes and a rising tide of illegal immigration from people without jobs and without hope. None of us want to return to the dark days of the 1980s when the Sandinistas and the rebel groups prospered from economic policies that left people desperate for a better life. but no one stands to gain more from the defeat of CAFTA than President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Fueled by $100 million each day of oil money.