Rogers Opening Statement at Hearing on National Security Challenges in North and South America
Washington, DC,
March 12, 2024
U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following opening remarks at a full committee hearing on U.S. military posture and national security challenges in North and South America.
I want to thank our witnesses for being here and for their service to our nation. In 8 months, Xi is expected to visit Peru to inaugurate a brand new $3.6 billion mega port. It was financed by China, built by Chinese workers, and it will be owned and operated by a CCP backed company.
It will be used to ship South American copper, lithium, and other critical minerals to China to further their military modernization.
This is just the latest in China's effort to displace American influence and build a strategic footprint in our backyard.
25 of the 31 countries in the SOUTHCOM A.O.R. have welcomed infrastructure investment from China.
22 have formally joined China's Belt and Road Initiative.
China is investing in critical sectors across Latin America, including sea, space, telecommunications, critical minerals, and energy.
CCP backed companies currently own or operate –
That includes ports on both ends of the Panama Canal, one at the tip of South America, and one just 100 miles away in the Bahamas.
None of the agreements governing these port, space, and telecommunications projects ban the collection of intelligence by China.
And none of them ban the PLA from using them for military operations.
In fact, many of these countries already share intelligence, host port calls, buy military equipment, and receive training from the PLA.
Unfortunately, China is not the only malign influence in the Western Hemisphere.
Since Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine, Russian propaganda efforts have increased across Latin America.
Russia continues to invest heavily in Cuba's communist regime.
And its military continues to provide training and arms to Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, where over 200 Russian troops operate a satellite tracking station.
Recent unrest in the SOUTHCOM A.O.R. is also very troubling.
Over the weekend, U.S. forces were sent to Haiti to help evacuate non-essential embassy personnel.
Meanwhile, Venezuela continues to threaten its neighbors by moving thousands of troops to its borders.
We need to do more to encourage stability in the region.
This means we must build and enhance partnerships to further our security interests.
We also need to focus on the real threat transnational criminal organizations based in the region pose to our nation.
These brutal criminals prey on thousands of vulnerable men, women, and children.
They steal their money and endanger their lives with perilous attempts to gain illegal entry at our borders.
Last year, CBP encountered nearly 2.5 million migrants trying to illegally cross our southwest border.
That set a new record.
And to make matters worse, that number includes at least 169 individuals on the terrorist watchlist and 598 known gang members – 178 of which were MS-13.
Keep in mind, these are just the ones CBP caught.
CBP estimates that another 1.7 million got away.
South and Central American criminal organizations are also the main source of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs smuggled across the border.
In FY23, a record 27,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the southwest border - enough to kill 6 billion people.
Nearly 3,000 military personnel are deployed to the U.S. border - the largest U.S. deployment of forces in the western hemisphere.
NORTHCOM and SOUTHCOM are doing their best to provide support to civilian authorities to address the border crisis, but the real solution rests with the President.
He needs to drop the excuses and secure our border.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses and getting their best military advice on how to overcome the security challenges we face. |
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