Foreign Policy

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on Thursday issued another warning against Iran's increasing ties to Latin America, this time calling for a closer look at whether Iran is trying to access uranium from Ecuador.

Her comments were the latest in a series meant to call attention to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to several Latin American countries this week.

"Over the last five years, Iran's economic investments in Ecuador have been effectively used to secure a loyal ally within our Hemisphere that could help Iran circumvent U.S. and U.N. sanctions," she said. "Iran's deepened alliance with [Ecuador President Rafael] Correa also facilitates Tehran's ability to access Ecuador’s uranium deposits.

House members want to ensure the Taliban does not win control through a back-room deal with Hamid Karzai.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) on Tuesday called on the Obama administration to be more vocal against the inauguration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who she said won his office through "widespread fraud."

"I am disappointed that the administration has not spoken out more forcefully about this stolen Nicaraguan election," Ros-Lehtinen said. "The United States and other free, democratic nations in the [Western] Hemisphere must denounce the Ortega tyranny immediately, call for the reinstitution of the democratic process in Nicaragua, and remain alert against the continued rise of dictatorships in the region and their alliances with Iran."

Timothy Yang, Taiwan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, called on two members of Congress last week to continue pressing for the sale of F-16 fighter planes to Taiwan.

Yang met with Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who co-chairs the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, and David Rivera (R-Fla.) late last week, according to Focus Taiwan.

Cantor said the bipartisan delegation on the trip will be focused on Iran and "the pressing threats of terrorism."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said the Smithsonian Institution's plan to chaperone Americans on four visits to Cuba this year amounts to licensed tourism of Cuba that will help give the "Castro dictatorship" access to much-needed hard currency.

"It is deeply disappointing that the Smithsonian Institute, primarily funded by American taxpayers, is facilitating access to U.S. dollars, which enables the Castro regime to make a hefty profit," Ros-Lehtinen said Tuesday. "The trips not only illustrate a blatant disregard for human rights conditions on the island by an entity that receives U.S. government funding, but provide the deplorable Havana tyranny a sense of legitimacy."

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) on Tuesday called on President Obama to see recent raids on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by the Egyptian government as an act that should disqualify Egypt from more than $1 billion in military aid from the United States.

In similar letters to Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Wolf cited news reporters saying that Egypt had raided NGOs such as the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) this week said plans by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to visit "anti-American despots" in the Western hemisphere is another reason the United States should be looking to apply the toughest sanctions possible against Iran.

Ahmadinejad plans to travel to Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador in January.

Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Saturday that he would block the nomination of two of the Obama administration's Western Hemisphere nominees, because the State Department has failed to answer his questions about Cuba travel policy.

Rubio said on the Senate floor Saturday that he asked State to look into two "people to people" travel itineraries from a company out of New York. Rubio said that rather than fostering democratic change in Cuba, these trips appear to just be tourism. "The reason why this is problematic is because it gives money to the Castro government," he said.

House Republicans plan to approve two bills next week that would strengthen and expand U.S. economic sanctions against Iran and companies doing business with Iran, and to do so by calling up the bills under a suspension of House rules, a process reserved for non-controversial bills.

Suspension votes require a two-thirds majority for passage. The Iran Threat Reduction Act, H.R. 1905, will easily clear that hurdle — it has 368 co-sponsors, and follows last year's easy passage of another Iran sanctions bill, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act.