Democracy Now interview with Rep. José Serrano (on Venezuela)

[Catherina]

Venezuela Didn't Ask for a Florida Recount in 2000, So Why U.S. Interference in Venezuelan Vote?

Interview with Rep. José Serrano on Democracy Now! at http://owl.li/kDXJ8

The U.S. State Department pledged Wednesday to work with the newly elected Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, but continued its refusal to offer him formal recognition. The Obama administration greeted Maduro's win last month by backing the Venezuelan opposition's call for a recount. Democratic Rep. Rep. José Serrano of New York, one of the few lawmakers who accepted cheap Venezuelan oil for low-income communities in the United States, criticizes the U.S. stance, saying: "The Venezuelan people are smart enough and prepared enough to deal with the issue of whether the election was fair or not -- let them deal with that. We should not be making statements saying there has to be a recount. Venezuela didn't ask for a recount in Florida when Bush and Gore were going at it, and we know what happened there."

Transcript:

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Congressman Serrano, I’d like to ask you about another topic: Venezuela. You have been outspoken in the past in terms of your support for some of the work of the Venezuelan government, and Hugo Chávez provided low-cost oil to the South Bronx for many years. Your reaction to the recent elections in Venezuela and to the U.S. government’s reaction to the results so far, in terms of the declaration that Nicolás Maduro, Chávez’s chosen successor, had won by a small margin?

REP. JOSÉ SERRANO: Well, you know, I’m always troubled by the fact that our country just does not—we contradict ourselves. We tell people to have elections, and then when we don’t like the winner of the election, we oppose the election and the election results. The Venezuelan people are smart enough and prepared enough to deal with the issue of whether the election was fair or not. Let them deal with that. We should not be making statements in the White House saying the election—there has to be a recount. I mean, Venezuela didn’t ask for a recount in Florida when Bush and Gore were going at it. And we know what happened there. So I’m always one for letting people work things out.

But it’s related to immigration, too. I have a theory, which is, if you don’t want people coming to this country—and I don’t have a problem with that—don’t advertise. So you tell them how bad their countries are, how bad their elections are, and then, if something breaks, where do you think they’re going to come? They’re going to come here. And then you wonder why are they here. Well, stop meddling. You know, stop advertising that you’re going to meddle in their affairs. They had an election. Let them work it out. We didn’t recognize the other six, seven, eight, nine elections that Hugo Chávez had that he won and the world accepted. Now we don’t accept this one. I don’t think we’re happy until the candidate we want to win wins the election.

AMY GOODMAN: So will you continue to get oil from Venezuela, just like your former congressmember—your colleague, Congressmember Joe Kennedy in Massachusetts, has made use of this oil to help poor people there?

REP. JOSÉ SERRANO: What happened was that we invited Hugo Chávez to the Bronx, and he spoke to a lot of folks. And he was talking to them about it, and he said, "Look, I have something I can offer you. I’m not the wealthiest country in the world, but I have home-heating oil that we don’t use in Venezuela. We’ll sell it to you at cost," with the understanding, very interesting, when we signed the documents, that any money saved by, say, the XYZ Housing Corporation from last year’s heating bill had to be used, those savings, to reinvest in, you know, boiler repairs, rent reductions. There were a couple of years there where folks in my district were getting like $25, $30, $70 rent reduction during the winter months based on this. Now, the government was upset—our government—because we were getting foreign aid from another country. We’re used to sending foreign aid. So I’m hoping that the Maduro government, or the Capriles government—I don’t care which government it is—continues to do this.

And I want to be clear about that: I’m not for what the result should be; I’m just for letting the people in Venezuela decide who their leader is.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember José Serrano, we want to thank you very much for being with us.

REP. JOSÉ SERRANO: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember from New York, from the Bronx.

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/2/rep_jos_serrano_critical_latino_vote?autostart=true