[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15255-H15256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PARTIAL LIST OF MOST RECENT CASES OF INTIMIDATION AND ARRESTS BY THE 
                              CUBAN REGIME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Diaz-Balart] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, the Cuban dictator just returned from a 
trip to Asia. He was disappointed. The Japanese gave him a credit of 
$100,000. I think he wanted a little bit more than that.
  He is in poor health. Things do not seem to be going right for him. 
But nevertheless that does not keep him from engaging in his 
traditional repression.
  Castro has initiated a new campaign of terror and aggression against 
all of his internal opposition and his henchmen have been attacking the 
members of a new group that has formed that has brought together over 
130 of the opposition groups within the island. It is Concilio Cubano, 
Cuban Council. So Castro is paranoid, and he is cracking down on them, 
and in, for him traditional, but nevertheless unacceptable manner.
  Dissidents of all ideological tendencies have joined together in this 
Cuban Council. So I think Castro has reason to be worried.
  In the last few weeks, Jose Martinez Puig, executive secretary of the 
Proconstitutional Democracy Association has been detained numerous 
times by Castro's henchmen.
  Castro's henchmen have also harassed Felix Fleites Posada, president 
of the Proconstitutional Democracy Association.
  Agents of the dictatorship have invaded the home of the well-known 
opposition leader Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz, obviously seeking to 
intimidate him.
  Amado Gonzalez Paz and Lazaro Garcia Torres have both been arrested 
and their families' physical safety has been threatened if they 
remained in Cuban Council.
  Recently, Nerys Goristoza Campo Alegre and Marta Ramirez Jerez, both 
members of the Popular Democratic Alliance, were also arrested. Another 
member of the Popular Democratic Alliance, Maria de la Caridad Salazar 
Ramirez was thrown in a prison cell with 14 common criminals.
  Radamaes Alfaro Garcia was arrested and told that he had to convince 
his mother, Beatriz Garcia Alvarez, and brother, Rinaldo Alfaro Garcia, 
to resign from the Cuban Council.
  Lazaro Miguel Rivero de Quesada was arrested along with his mother, 
Dulce Maria de Quesada. This is within recent weeks, Mr. Speaker.
  Sergio Aguiara Cruz was sentenced to 4 years in prison under the 
charge of predelinquent dangerousness. Aguiara is the president of the 
Union of Cubans for Liberty.
  In Camaguey Province, well-known dissident Antonio Femenias 
Echemendia, has been continuously harassed by Castro's state security 
for the last 5 weeks.
  Also, in Camaguey, Alberto Hernandez Frometa, from the group Man's 
Human Rights, was arrested.
  The regime has consistently sought to intimidate Marcelino Soto, Jose 
Nieves Arrieta and Bernardo Fuentes Cambior on a regular basis for 
their activities on behalf of human rights.
  The list goes on, Mr. Speaker. This is just the tip of the iceberg. 
Some dissidents issued a statement in support of the conference that 
was held in Beijing, the World Conference on 

[[Page H15256]]
Women, and Ileana Somellan Fernandez, her home was ransacked by state 
security on August 25 for doing that. Also, September 1 and September 
2, several members of the group called Mothers for Solidarity were 
arrested.
  Marta Maria Vega Cabrera was summoned to appear at headquarters of 
state security in Havana, where she was interrogated, also, for a 
statement she made to an international journalist.
  On September 2, state security agents visited Mercedes Paradas 
Antunez, where she was accused along with Aida Rosa Jimenez, of 
``planning a protest march'' on Havana.
  On the same day, Raquel Naranjo Ruize and Aida Rosa Jimenez were 
continously followed by state security agents in Havana in a manner 
that they subsequently describe to the international press as insolent 
and incessant.
  Moises Rodriguez Quesada, Leonardo Calvo, and Manuel Cuesda Morua 
also have been victims of threats and interrogations from state 
security. And, of course, Carmen Arias Jose Miranda, Francisco Chavino, 
Omar del Pozo, and Colonel Enrique Labrada and Reverend Orson Villa, 
these are all political prisoners. they remain incarcerated.
  I want to see where the international community is, Mr. Speaker. 
Where is the Clinton Administration? Where is that State Department 
that we pay those salaries to? Where are they denouncing this? Where is 
the international community? Where is the United Nations denouncing 
this, Mr. Speaker? Where are they? Earn your salaries, bureaucrats. 
Earn your salaries. At least denounce this every once in a while.
  This is going on now in Cuba, and I want to hear one condemnation by 
the international press or the international organizations.
  Where are they Mr. Speaker? We will continue talking about this.

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