Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As a Canadian, this was my first trip to Venezuela. I just returned about a week ago. Coming from a country like Canada, the role of the military in Venezuela is absolutely astonishing. In Latin American countries or countries in Africa or anywhere else in the developing world, the military is a very scary thing that's used to repress people.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  From Colombia. This is a very real threat. The 14 military bases in Colombia, the base in Curaçao, the bases in Panama are a very real threat, and the masses feel this. Ordinary working people feel they are being threatened and surrounded, but they want to defend it; they're not going to lie down.