[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 91 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 91

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
                    human rights situation in Cuba.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 19, 2001

Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Lantos, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. 
  DeLay, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Armey, Mr. Ballenger, Mr. 
Deutsch, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Gilman, Mr. Engel, Mr. Burton 
 of Indiana, Mr. Burr of North Carolina, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Crowley, Mr. 
Berman, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Hastings of Florida, and Mr. Ackerman) submitted 
   the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
                    human rights situation in Cuba.

Whereas, according to the Department of State and international human rights 
        organizations, the Government of Cuba continues to commit widespread and 
        well-documented human rights violations against the Cuban people and to 
        detain hundreds more as political prisoners;
Whereas the Castro regime systematically violates all of the fundamental civil 
        and political rights of the Cuban people, denying freedoms of speech, 
        press, assembly, movement, religion, and association, the right to 
        change their government, and the right to due process and fair trials;
Whereas, in law and in practice, the Government of Cuba restricts the freedom of 
        religion of the Cuban people and engages in efforts to control and 
        monitor religious institutions through surveillance, infiltration, 
        evictions, restrictions on access to computer and communication 
        equipment, and harassment of religious professionals and lay persons;
Whereas the totalitarian regime of Fidel Castro actively suppresses all peaceful 
        opposition and dissent by the Cuban people using undercover agents, 
        informers, rapid response brigades, Committees for the Defense of the 
        Revolution, surveillance, phone tapping, intimidation, defamation, 
        arbitrary detention, house arrest, arbitrary searches, evictions, travel 
        restrictions, politically-motivated dismissals from employment, and 
        forced exile;
Whereas workers' rights are effectively denied by a system in which foreign 
        investors are forced to contract labor from the Government of Cuba and 
        to pay the regime in hard currency knowing that the regime will pay less 
        than 5 percent of these wages in local currency to the workers 
        themselves;
Whereas these abuses by the Government of Cuba violate internationally accepted 
        norms of conduct;
Whereas the House of Representatives is mindful of the admonishment of former 
        Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo during the last Ibero-American Summit 
        in Havana, Cuba, that ``[t]here can be no sovereign nations without free 
        men and women [. . . m]en and women who can freely exercise their 
        essential freedoms: freedom of thought and opinion, freedom of 
        participation, freedom of dissent, freedom of decision'';
Whereas President Vaclav Havel, an essential figure in the Czech Republic's 
        transition to democracy, has counseled that ``[w]e thus know that by 
        voicing open criticism of undemocratic conditions in Cuba, we encourage 
        all the brave Cubans who endure persecution and years of prison for 
        their loyalty to the ideals of freedom and human dignity'';
Whereas former President Lech Walesa, leader of the Polish solidarity movement, 
        has urged the world to ``mobilize its resources, just as was done in 
        support of Polish Solidarnosc and the Polish workers, to express their 
        support for Cuban workers and to monitor labor rights'' in Cuba;
Whereas efforts to document, expose, and address human rights abuses in Cuba are 
        complicated by the fact that the Government of Cuba continues to deny 
        international human rights and humanitarian monitors access to the 
        country;
Whereas Pax Christi further reports that these efforts are complicated because 
        ``a conspiracy of silence has fallen over Cuba'' in which diplomats and 
        entrepreneurs refuse even to discuss labor rights and other human rights 
        issues in Cuba, some ``for fear of endangering the relations with the 
        Cuban government'', and businessmen investing in Cuba ``openly declare 
        that the theme of human rights was not of their concern'';
Whereas the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 
        Geneva provides an excellent forum to spotlight human rights and 
        expressing international support for improved human rights performance 
        in Cuba and elsewhere;
Whereas the goal of United States policy in Cuba is to promote a peaceful 
        transition to democracy through an active policy of assisting the forces 
        of change on the island;
Whereas the United States may provide assistance through appropriate 
        nongovernmental organizations to help individuals and organizations to 
        promote nonviolent democratic change and promote respect for human 
        rights in Cuba; and
Whereas the President is authorized to engage in democracy-building efforts in 
        Cuba, including the provision of (1) publications and other 
        informational materials on transitions to democracy, human rights, and 
        market economies to independent groups in Cuba, (2) humanitarian 
        assistance to victims of political repression and their families, (3) 
        support for democratic and human rights groups in Cuba, and (4) support 
        for visits and permanent deployment of democratic and international 
        human rights monitors in Cuba: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) the House of Representatives condemns the repressive 
        and totalitarian actions of the Government of Cuba against the 
        Cuban people; and
            (2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
        the President--
                    (A) should have an action-oriented policy of 
                directly assisting the Cuban people and independent 
                organizations, modeled on United States support under 
                former President Ronald Reagan, including support by 
                United States trade unions, for Poland's Solidarity 
                movement (``Solidarnosc''), to strengthen the forces of 
                change and to improve human rights within Cuba; and
                    (B) should make all efforts necessary at the 
                meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission 
                in Geneva in 2001 to obtain the passage by the 
                Commission of a resolution condemning the Government of 
                Cuba for its human rights abuses, and to secure the 
                appointment of a Special Rapporteur for Cuba.
                                 <all>