[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 388 Engrossed in House (EH)]


H. Res. 388

                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                    September 29, 2005.
Whereas the European Union instituted measures on the Cuban Government after the 
        Cuban Government exercised extreme repression on peaceful prodemocracy 
        activists in 2003, but in January 2005 the European Union suspended its 
        measures;
Whereas on July 13, 2005, the Cuban Government detained 24 human rights 
        activists who were participating in a solemn event in remembrance of the 
        victims of the tugboat massacre of innocent civilians by the Cuban 
        government of July 13, 1994;
Whereas human rights activists Rene Montes de Oca, Emilio Leiva Perez, Camilo 
        Cairo Falcon, Manuel Perez Soira, Roberto Guerra Perez, and Lazaro 
        Alonso Roman remain incarcerated from the July 13, 2005, event and face 
        trumped up charges of ``disorderly conduct'';
Whereas on July 14, 2005, the Government of France invited the Cuban regime's 
        Foreign Minister to the French Embassy in Havana for a ``Bastille Day'' 
        celebration;
Whereas members of the prodemocracy opposition in Cuba sought, on July 22, 2005, 
        in Havana, to demonstrate in front of the French Embassy in a peaceful 
        and orderly manner, on behalf of the liberation of all Cuban political 
        prisoners, and to protest the current policy of the European Union 
        toward the Cuban Government;
Whereas the Cuban regime mobilized its repressive state security apparatus to 
        intimidate and harass the peaceful demonstrators in order to prevent 
        prodemocracy activists from reaching the French Embassy;
Whereas the Cuban regime arrested and detained many who were planning on 
        attending the peaceful protest of July 22 in front of the French 
        Embassy, including Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, Felix Antonio Bonne 
        Carcasses, Rene Gomez Manzano, Jose Javier Baeza Dis, Maria de los 
        Angeles Borrego, Ernesto Colas Garcia, Emma Maria Alonso Del Monte, Jose 
        Escuredo Marrero, Uldarico Garcia, Yusimi Gil Portel, Oscar Mario 
        Gonzalez Perez, Humberto Guerra, Luis Cesar Guerra, Julio Cesar Lopez 
        Rodriguez, Miguel Lopez Santos, Jacqueline Montes de Oca, Raul Martinez 
        Prieto, Ricardo Medina Salabarria, Francisco Moure Saladrigas, Georgina 
        Noa Montes, Niurka Maria Pena Rodriguez, Luis Manuel Penalver, Pastor 
        Perez Sanchez, Jesus Adolfo Reyes Sanchez, Gloria Cristina Rodriguez 
        Gonzalez, Juan Mario Rodriguez Guillen, Miguel Valdes Tamayo, Santiago 
        Valdeolla Perez, and Jesus Alejandro Victore Molina;
Whereas Rene Gomez Manzano, a distinguished leader of the struggle for freedom 
        in Cuba, and other prodemocracy activists, continue to be detained 
        without cause;
Whereas hundreds of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience languish in 
        the Cuban regime's prisons for the crime of seeking democracy for Cuba;
Whereas thousands of others languish in Cuba's totalitarian prisons accused of 
        ``common crimes'', such as illegally attempting to leave the country and 
        violating the norms of the totalitarian economic system, who should be 
        recognized as prisoners of conscience because they are being jailed for 
        attempting to exercise personal freedoms;
Whereas the Cuban regime has arrested more than 400 young Cubans, from late 2004 
        through June of 2005, and according to the Cuban regime, the arrests 
        were carried out as a ``measure of pre-delinquent security'';
Whereas the Cuban regime has continued to repress attempts by the Cuban people 
        to bring democratic change to the island and denies universally 
        recognized liberties, including freedom of speech, association, 
        movement, and the press;
Whereas the Cuban Government remains designated as one of 6 state sponsors of 
        terrorism by the United States Department of State;
Whereas the Cuban Government continues to provide safe harbor to fugitives from 
        United States law enforcement agencies and to international terrorists;
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which establishes global 
        human rights standards, asserts that all human beings are born free and 
        equal in dignity and rights, and that no one shall be subjected to 
        arbitrary arrest or detention;
Whereas the Cuban regime engages in torture and other cruel, inhumane, and 
        degrading treatment, including extended periods of solitary confinement 
        and denial of nutritional and medical attention, according to the 
        Department of State's Country Report on Human Rights 2004;
Whereas the personal representative of the United Nations Human Rights 
        Commissioner has not been allowed by the Cuban regime to enter the 
        island to carry out the mandate assigned by the United Nations Human 
        Right Commission in its resolution of 2002/18 of 19 April 2002, and 
        reaffirmed in resolutions 2003/13 of 17 April 2003, 2004/11 of 15 April 
        2004, and 2005/12 of 14 April 2005; and
Whereas the Cuban regime continues to violate the rights enshrined in the 
        Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Inter-American Convention on 
        Human Rights, and other international and regional human rights 
        agreements, and has violated the noted Resolutions of the United Nations 
        Commission on Human Rights: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the gross human rights violations committed by the 
        Cuban regime;
            (2) calls on the Secretary of State to initiate an international 
        solidarity campaign on behalf of the immediate release of all Cuban 
        political prisoners;
            (3) supports the right of the Cuban people to exercise fundamental 
        political and civil liberties, including freedom of expression, 
        assembly, association, movement, the press, and the right to multiparty 
        elections;
            (4) calls on the European Union to reexamine its current policy 
        toward the Cuban regime, before June of 2006; and
            (5) calls on the United States Permanent Representative to the 
        United Nations, and other international organizations, to work with the 
        member countries of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 
        (UNCHR) throughout the 62d session of the UNCHR in Geneva, Switzerland, 
        to ensure a resolution that includes the strongest possible condemnation 
        of the July 2005 measures of extreme repression on opposition activists 
        and of all the human rights violations committed by the Cuban regime.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.