[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 12, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1061]]


         BELARUS FREEDOM FIGHTER DESERVES UNITED STATES SUPPORT

                                 ______


                             HON. TOM DeLAY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 12, 1996

  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join the growing chorus of 
protest against the increasingly violent and chaotic situation in the 
former Soviet satellite nation of Belarus.
  As many of my colleagues know, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and 
Belarusan President Alexander Lukashenko last month signed an agreement 
that would reintegrate the political, economic, and social ties between 
the two nations. While I realize the importance of neighborly 
alliances, I am afraid that this new treaty has ominous implications 
for emerging democracies in the newly independent nations of Eastern 
Europe. In point of fact, the agreement has already produced 
frightening results.
  Tens of thousands of Belarusans, realizing the very real threat to 
their new-found independence, have taken to the streets of Minsk to 
protest the agreement. In response, President Lukashenko has initiated 
a campaign of fear and terror meant to intimidate the Belarusan people 
into silence. Lukashenko has placed former members of the Soviet Armed 
Forces in top posts throughout the Belarusan secret police and 
military, sending them out into the streets to arrest thousands of his 
own people and to raid their homes and places of business. The 
Belarusan President's regard for his own countrymen, fighting homespun 
terrorism at the hands of their longtime oppressors, is so low that he 
has referred to them as `` * * * sick people who have placed themselves 
outside of the law.''
  Standing in stark contrast to President Lukashenko's repressive 
tactics is Yury Khadyka, a longtime Belarusan freedom fighter. Mr. 
Khadyka fought the heavy yoke of communism when Belarus was a Soviet 
satellite and now that his homeland has tasted freedom, he has become a 
leading figure in the fight to preserve Belarusan independence. 
Distressingly, Mr. Khadyka has been imprisoned since April 27 for 
standing up to President Lukashenko's growing campaign of terror and 
intimidation.
  Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the saddest chapter in this sordid story 
is the complicity of the Clinton administration in Mr. Khadyka's 
imprisonment. To fulfill a political agenda, this administration has 
stood idly by while the fragile framework of a newly independent nation 
crumbles and innocent people like Mr. Khadyka are imprisoned at the 
hands of a present-day dictator.
  In order to prop up Boris Yeltsin's reelection campaign, this 
administration has signaled its tacit approval of the reintegration of 
Russia and Belarus. In fact, President Lukashenko, a career Communist 
Party bureaucrat, has given every indication that he would prefer to 
see one of President Yeltsin's more hard-line rivals prevail in the 
upcoming elections. If that happens, and if the Communist Party once 
again takes the reigns of power in Moscow, this agreement will signal 
the functional end of independence in Belarus. I support President 
Yeltsin's efforts to implement democratic and free-market reforms in 
Russia, but I would urge Mr. Yeltsin to recognize that Belarus has the 
right to pursue these same goals on its own terms.

  As Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, ``We 
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, 
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, 
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.'' I 
do not quote this famous document lightly--the simple truth is that 
these words represent a plain, concise distillation of what we, as 
Americans, believe to be true for all people, everywhere. That is why I 
urge President Clinton to put political maneuvering aside and to 
support those ideals upon which the United States was founded. Now, as 
freedom takes root throughout Eastern Europe, the United States must 
support the standard-bearers of liberty on this democratic frontier. 
Yury Khadyka is such an individual, and he deserves our support and 
assistance as he strives to preserve democracy in his beloved homeland.

                          ____________________