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Ruben Gallego: “My heritage really can't be separated from who I am.”

Featuring: Ruben Gallego, Democratic | U.S. Senate, Arizona

Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties

Published August 16, 2025 | Video Starts at 05:36

So the first question I will ask is, as the first two Colombian American senators, how does your personal background shape your view of the US Colombian relationship? So. Yeah, well, certainly, you know, my, My heritage really can't be separated from who I am. you know, much like Bernie, you know, I, I got to where I am because of my Colombian, you know, roots of, of just knowing how to work hard and … (05:36–06:09)

CLAIM

Asserts that Ruben Gallego's Colombian heritage is integral to his identity.

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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Ruben Gallego

“Colombia is a non-NATO partner of ours and that is a very important position for them to have.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 30:14-30:30
“We're the country that has bled with Colombia, right. Both here and in World War II and in the Korean War.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 32:32-32:40
“There are many more [countries] leaving [the Belt and Road initiative] than actually are trying to join the initiative.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 38:14-38:19
“There's some private equity funds that are bigger than actual the GDP of some nation states.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 45:29-45:35
“Most voters do not have a positive interaction with the federal government until they hit 66 and a half.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 54:46-54:55
“It was my Colombian family that taught me really everything, right, about hard work, about studying hard, about being a family man, about…”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 06:08-06:21
“It really drives me now to make sure that we continue to have really good relations between our two countries.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 06:37-06:44
“Most Americans' understanding of Latin America is very much focused on Mexico and maybe Cuba.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 06:43-06:56
“The U.S.-Colombian relationship is as strong as it has been.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 12:54-12:57
“We believe that no matter what happens, we want Colombia to continue to be a democratically elected government.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 13:36-13:56
“Our goal as a nation, and it's a Democratic Republican goal, is to really decouple ourselves from, you know, the, the kind of the Asian…”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 14:25-14:36
“We learned a lot of hard lessons during COVID about how reliant we were on, you know, Asian cargo ships coming over the Pacific Ocean.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 14:36-14:48
“What we can't make in the United States or business choose not to make the United States. We hope that they will choose to near shore.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 14:49-14:57
“There's nothing more near shore than you can really get than Colombia here, especially when it has two coasts that could easily have access…”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 14:57-15:06
“The richer we can make Colombians, the less likely they are to involve themselves in the regular economy and the narco economy and the…”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 15:22-15:33
“The economy is barely moving along [in Colombia].”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 15:22-15:33
“Where you see the violence in, in Colombia, you know, it's in the areas where the state doesn't exist.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 20:58-21:04
“You have this void that's being essentially filled by your kind of your narco state.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 21:08-21:17
“There is no regular economy, that is the economy [in some areas of Colombia].”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 21:32-21:37
“It'd be a tough time for Colombia to pay for [infrastructure improvements].”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 22:03-22:09
“We ought to think about really using modern drone technology on the positive side to help, you know, bring some of those goods to the…”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 22:15-22:25
“With Brazil having its tariffs increase, we're going to need more coffee in the United States.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 23:23-23:31
“You could end up having one of the most advanced drone ports and one of the few first drone ports in the whole world [in Colombia].”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 23:38-23:55
“That's how we can get these places that are, you know, just economically and physically distant and start bringing them closer to the state.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 23:59-24:10
“The emergence of the Chinese Colombian relationship does concern me.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 30:33-30:57
“I lobbied a lot of our NATO partners to not allow Huawei into their defense tech and defense information system.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 30:58-31:17
“China uses [high tech products] to collect information.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 31:17-31:37
“China engages in corporate espionage.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 31:17-31:37
“I dislike how close the Colombian government at times is getting to Venezuela.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 31:57-32:07
“Any nation, especially an allied nation of ours that is deeply involved in the Belt and Road initiative, I think there would be fallout.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 37:54-38:15
“If someone right now, especially in the Western Hemisphere, would join [the Belt and Road initiative], you're saying more about our…”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 38:22-38:35
“China and some of you, Russia, actually flood, you know, information, engage in information warfare way better than we do here.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 44:08-44:17
“We don't have the checkbook of China, but we have the. We have rich friends.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 44:34-44:42
“Private equity is a huge driver of our economy in the United States.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 45:21-45:29
“We worked with other allies, whether it was South Korea, to kind of fill the gap.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 46:15-46:19
“There was a dam I believe in, I want to say Burma or Bangladesh, and I can't quite remember, and they were looking for financing and China…”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 46:37-46:53
“It was with the help of the US Embassy that they were able to get financing from Japanese businessmen.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 46:52-46:59
“Where you see around the world where you have the highest levels of corruption, it has two things. The, the irregular economy and irregular…”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 52:57-53:12
“Doing the basic work of governance is going to go the longest way to end corruption in this country.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 53:49-53:57
“It's not necessarily all at the federal level. It starts at the local level.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 53:57-54:03
“There should be, you know, strict, you know, tax compliance, like that kind of stuff matters.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 54:18-54:26
“Democrats can do very well in local governance more so than national governments.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 55:18-55:24
“Figure out a way for the, the Colombian citizenry to have positive and early interactions with government to the point that they actually…”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 55:46-55:58
“Colombia's biggest natural resource is its people.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 57:07-57:13
“With proper governance and investment, Colombia could lead Latin America economically.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 57:25-57:39
“South Korea's teachers are highly paid and respected, called nation builders.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 58:12-58:21
“Successful Colombians in the U.S. indicate potential for success in Colombia with the right environment.”
Senators Bernie Moreno and Rubén Gallego on US-Colombia ties | Uploaded August 16, 2025 | 59:16-59:30