[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 113 (Thursday, July 13, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1438]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         A TRIBUTE TO THE VICTIMS OF ``13TH OF MARCH'' TUGBOAT

                                 ______


                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 13, 1995

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, today marks the first anniversary of 
the indiscriminate murder by the Castro regime, of over 40 Cuban 
citizens, mostly women and children, while they were attempting to 
escape the island aboard the 13th of March tugboat. We do not forget 
the love of freedom which these Cuban nationals represented nor the 
risks they took to obtain that freedom.
  Today, hundreds of Cuban exiles sail toward those same waters where 
the massacre occurred in order to pay tribute in a solemn ceremony to 
those who perished on that day and to the thousands of Cubans who 
struggle daily against Castro's repressive apparatus.
  On this tragic anniversary, the White House and the State Department 
have acted as Castro's spokesman and have warned the flotilla 
participants that if attacked by Castro authorities, expect no help 
from their own national government. So it is that the saga continues in 
the Clinton administration's drive to coddle up to dictator's from Cuba 
to Vietnam while setting aside the aspirations of freedom of millions 
of citizens from around the world.
  On this day, let us remember that while in the United States we are 
blessed with countless freedoms, only 90 miles from our shores, in 
Cuba, life is marked by repression, persecution, and misery. Let us 
remember those who have perished and continue to suffer under the hand 
of Cuba's tyrant.


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