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Jim Himes: “We've missed [engaging with Latin America] under president…”

Featuring: Jim Himes, Democratic | U.S. House Connecticut, 4th Congressional District

A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations

Published November 24, 2025 | Video Starts at 26:28

And now almost every country down there, Venezuela accepted and some other questionable characters are democracies. And if we would, you know, and We've missed [engaging with Latin America] under president, under president, under president. If we had simply sort of engaged with Latin America in a way that wasn't about Carno narcotics and non law enforcement, and we could have a much more vibrant … (26:28–26:32)

CLAIM

Asserts a historical lack of engagement with Latin America by successive U.S. administrations.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Jim Himes

“They found this space that apparently can use whatever the thing is, 20% of the United States Navy's combat power, but is somehow not a…”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 10:39-10:49
“We helped overthrow a democratically elected leader in 1954 in [Guatemala].”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 16:16-16:21
“We probably did the similar thing in 1973 in Chile.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 16:23-16:26
“Almost every country [in Latin America], Venezuela excepted, are democracies.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 26:20-26:27
“The Constitution vests in the Congress the power to declare war unambiguously.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 01:06-01:13
“The War Powers act passed in 73 on the heels of the Vietnam War, which was never declared by Congress.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 01:36-01:43
“The War Powers act basically says, look, the president has a pretty free hand for a period of 60 days.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 02:09-02:15
“Since the 1990s or so, Congress has increasingly been comfortable with presidents exercising authorities which strike me as not…”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 02:42-02:52
“President Trump [is] using his military authorities against civilians [in the Caribbean].”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 02:59-03:01
“Clinton, of course, prosecutes a military attack on, largely on Serbs in the late 1990s in the Balkans, and he doesn't get permission from…”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 04:05-04:16
“The current administration is... moving the needle well beyond this precedent.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 04:55-05:10
“Obama of course takes military strikes in Syria, bombs Syrian positions after the president there, Assad gases his own people.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 05:10-05:20
“We're going to move a big chunk of the Navy's combat power into the Caribbean.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 06:05-06:10
“The administration is arguing that we are in a non-international armed conflict.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 07:49-07:56
“They are basically saying that the cartels are ISIS and Al Qaeda all wrapped up in one.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 08:30-08:37
“The administration is saying that the money that goes into that they get from cocaine is going into a campaign of extortion and terror.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 09:20-09:31
“Our resolution would say, no, it is [a war]. And you've got to get authority from the Congress to continue with your kinetic attacks in the…”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 10:31-10:31
“The Venezuelan regime is a very bad regime. It's illegitimate.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 11:29-11:34
“There are people in the Venezuelan regime who are on the take to the, from the cartels to turn a blind eye to truck shipments.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 11:36-11:45
“The idea that the Maduro regime is a narco regime, beyond the garden variety corruption that exists in lots of regimes in South America and…”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 11:49-12:04
“It's cocaine, not fentanyl.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 13:19-13:21
“Even if we could cut off the flow of all maritime cocaine into Trinidad and the Dominican Republic, there are air routes, there are overland…”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 13:26-13:37
“The administration would love you to believe that these are terrorists, but they're not.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 14:03-14:07
“The Trump administration is not being particularly diligent about advising Congress.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 17:41-17:49
“Here we are two months into these strikes, and we have not had a single briefing on the intelligence.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 18:10-18:17
“An awful lot of countries, most notably the UK, certainly Colombia, are saying, hey, sorry, guys, as long as you're doing this banana stuff…”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 18:52-19:07
“The Gang of Eight are the leadership of the two Houses, plus the chair and the ranking member of the intelligence committees.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 21:08-21:19
“The Gang of Eight get briefed on the most sensitive stuff.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 21:08-21:19
“Donald Trump sees the world in terms of power, with powerful countries like Russia and China.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 24:56-25:06
“In Brazil, if they prosecute their ex-president, [Trump] will slap 50% tariffs on Brazil.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 25:31-25:42
“Latin America has made tremendous progress since I was a little kid there.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 26:13-26:16
“Donald Trump is making [the situation in Latin America] 10 times worse through this personalist kind of caudillo view of the world.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 26:59-27:05
“The introduction of ground troops or kinetic activity in Venezuela would be a dagger in the heart of this MAGA premise.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 28:22-28:28
“If we took military action against Venezuela, there would be a reaction in the continent.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 28:58-29:06
“There's no guarantee that what replaces Maduro is any better.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 29:12-29:17
“We now live in a bipolar, maybe even tripolar world.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 31:43-31:48
“The Chinese are not going away.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 31:47-31:50
“Europe, economically, not militarily, is basically the same as the United States.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 32:06-32:14
“Most of my colleagues are thinking about China using a Soviet Cold War mentality.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 32:29-32:34
“We need to invest in what does it look like when we arrive at a detente in accommodation with China.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 32:41-32:57
“The world is increasingly split between those countries who aspire to some version of liberal market regulated capitalism and those that…”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 32:58-33:14
“If Donald Trump has done one really devastating thing to our ability to project power abroad, it is his disdain for alliances.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 33:36-33:44
“Countering China, dealing with Iran, dealing with North Korea...will require immensely robust alliances.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 33:45-33:56
“Out of the chaos and tumult and horrors of the late 19th century comes the original progressive movement with Teddy Roosevelt.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 35:39-35:47
“If we could get a Teddy Roosevelt in a modern progressive movement in the tradition of that early 20th century progressive movement.”
A Conversation with Representative Jim Himes | American Conversations | Uploaded November 24, 2025 | 35:48-35:57