'Absolute Disgrace': DeSantis Hammers Biden Over Looking Into Buying Oil From Venezuela And Iran

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis convened a roundtable of Venezuelan American leaders to criticize President Joe Biden's decision to approach oil-rich Venezuela, long a foe of America, amid rising gas prices. The roundtable was held at Jesus Worship Center in Doral, Miami. Gov. DeSantis spoke out against potential trade deals to import oil from Venezuela after the U.S. banned Russian oil imports. Addressing the round table DeSantis said:

Well, Good Afternoon. We're really excited to be in Doral. We have a number of Venezuelan Americans who, like many Americans. And I know a lot of Floridians are very angered by the Joe Biden administration's recent attempt to legitimize the brutal Maduro regime in Venezuela. And this is something that is unfortunately become part of a pattern with Joe Biden's administration. 

I think if you look at people throughout South Florida that have connections in different countries in the Western Hemisphere. What we see from the Biden administration is basically thumbing their nose at millions of people here in our state, when they take Farc off the list in Columbia. 

When they sit idly by, they don't lift a finger to help the protestors in Cuba, who were fighting against that decades-long dictatorship and now to go in the hat in hand and legitimizing Nicolas Maduro who's been responsible for a lot of atrocities and has driven that country into the ground along with of course his predecessor Hugo Chavez. 

I believe that This country should be energy independent. We have a huge amount of energy reserves in this country. You look at how these gas prices are impacting consumers in Florida and throughout the country. It wasn't just because of Russia. They've been going up consistently since January 20th 20 21. That's just a fact. So now we're in a situation where we're four. 

I just saw 430 a gallon for unleaded and it's continuing to go up. We could end up $5, $6 a gas before you even know it and it could even get much higher than that and we got folks that have to go to work. They've gotta take their kids to school. They can't just walk. I mean, especially in Miami, a lot of people have to commute. 

So, this is a huge, huge blow to a lot of people and their family budgets and part of the reason we're in this situation is because the Biden administration has had a policy of really knee-capping the American Energy Industry. This is based on ideology. They don't want us producing like we did under the Trump administration. So they've done a series of things like stop Keystone. They're closing Anwar. They're not allowing permits for production on federal lenders. All these different things that not only have had an effect on what would be done in those instances but also I think a general chilling effect where people know this is not an administration that's energy-friendly. 

So, now, we're in a situation where people are really, really hurting, and rather than just recognize that, rather than acknowledge that their policies have been ineffective, they are trying to justify what they're doing to say no more in America and they're going to Maduro. They're going potentially to the Ayatollah in Iran. So, you say you don't want to do with Putin because he's a dictator. I'm all for that but then don't turn around and go to Maduro who is committed all kinds of atrocities. So, needless to say, we got a lot to discuss. So, I'm really happy to be joined here by Florida's Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez, the congressman from this area my friend Mario Diaz Billard, Ernesto Ackerman, the president of independent Venezuelan American citizens, Lorenzo De Stefano, owner of El A Rapazzo Restaurant, Rafael Godinger. He's the president of the Venezuelan American Medical Association. He's actually just come from surgery. So, thank you for being here. 

You can also watch the complete video of this event attached below, Speakers in this roundtable are:

• Governor Ron DeSantis, 
• Lieutenant-Governor Jeanette Nuñez, 
• Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, 
• Ernesto Ackerman, President, Independent Venezuelan American Citizens, 
• Dr. Rafael Gottenger, President, Venezuelan American Medical Association, 
• Juan Fernandez, Founder, Gente del Petroleo, 
• Lorenzo di Stefano, owner of El Arepazo restaurant, 
• Carines Moncada, Journalist, Venezuelan Radio Talent, 
• Lesly Simon, President, of the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce.

These people have also voiced concerns. So, do watch and share.