Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar has joined the signatories of the bipartisan bill seeking to brand the Algeria-backed Polisario separatist group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
The bill was tabled in the House of Representatives by Republican Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA). H.R. 4119 has gained so far the support of twelve members of the Congress pushing for the designation of Polisario FTO for its crimes committed and ties with Iran and its proxies seeking to undermine the peace and security of an ally of the United States in North Africa.
The U.S. Senate has launched a similar bill which is gaining momentum. If the FTO bill is adopted by the Congress, the Polisario financial assets will be frozen and its leaders will be banned from travel. The move will isolate the group politically, making it toxic for other countries or NGOs to engage with it.
Congresswoman Salazar (Florida) currently serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs as Chair of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee and on the House Committee on Financial Services.
She is a five-time Emmy Award-winning journalist. she has spent her career holding the corrupt and powerful accountable. Congresswoman Salazar has gone toe-to-toe with Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, and most notably Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
Starting at the age of 22, she worked for every major US Spanish-language broadcasting network: Telemundo, Univision, AmericaTeve, MegaTV, and CNN en Español.
Salazar was born in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, the daughter of Cuban exiles. She studied at the Deerborne School of Coral Gables and graduated from Miami Dade College. Salazar holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Miami and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
