[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 121 (Tuesday, July 25, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H7562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          THE MONCADA BARRACKS

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow marks the 42d anniversary of 
Castro's nighttime attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, 
an event which led to the emergence of Castro's rebel army and his 
ultimate triumphant, yet, as we were later to learn, tragic ride into 
Havana in 1959.
  Little did many Cubans know that what occurred that night in 1953 was 
only the preamble to a tyranny that Cuba had not seen before. Tomorrow 
night my colleagues, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Diaz-Balart], the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Menendez], and I will host a dinner for 
our congressional colleagues with the participation of four victims of 
this 36-year-old tyranny.
  Among them will be three former Cuban political prisoners who 
combined spent over 50 years in prison, one of them being a veteran of 
the Moncada attack. Also joining us will be a survivor of the latest 
indiscriminate attack last year by Castro on a tugboat filled with 
Cuban refugees.
  These four individuals will offer firsthand accounts of Castro's 
thirst for political control of the island and the totalitarian methods 
he uses to maintain that control.
  I urge my colleagues to join us tomorrow night.
  

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