[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 108 (Monday, July 28, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5904-H5909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN CUBA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 1997, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Diaz-Balart] is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


    Dow Jones Average Up Since Republicans Took Control of Congress

  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I wish, before I begin speaking about 
the subject that brings me to the well this evening, to insert into the 
Record a note made available to us here in Congress today by our dear 
colleague, the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan].
  Mr. Duncan points out, among other things, that the Dow Jones 
Industrial Average, on Election Day 1994, when the Republicans took the 
majority in this House and in Congress, both Houses, for the first time 
in 40 years, was 3,830 points. And since Republicans took control of 
Congress, the Dow Jones Average has gone up by more than 4,000 points, 
breaking all records. And that that was due, to a great degree, because 
of the fact that the majority here, the Republicans, brought the 
leadership to the Congress to bring Federal spending under control and 
stop the growth of taxes and regulations and that, finally, the belief 
took hold in the economy and in the world in this international economy 
of today that the United States of America would finally balance its 
budget.
  And, so, I think that that is something that was important to bring 
out. And I thank the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan] for having 
done so. So I would like to insert the following into the Record, if I 
could, Mr. Speaker:

       The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 3830.74 on 
     election day, 1994.
       Since Republicans took control of Congress, the Dow Jones 
     average has gone up by more than 4,000 points--mainly thanks 
     to Republican success in bringing Federal spending under 
     control and stopping the growth of taxes and regulations.

  Mr. Speaker, I come this evening to the floor, to the well, to 
discuss a matter that for the last 4 months has worried me on a daily 
basis in increased fashion. It has been typical of the tyrant in Cuba, 
who has ruled for 38 long and destructive and painful and 
extraordinarily gruesome years, it has been typical for him to engage 
in Stalinist crackdowns. But for the last 4 months, he has been clearly 
engaged in another such Stalinist crackdown the effects of which have 
come to my attention on a daily basis.
  And, so, I have been thinking it appropriate for some time now to 
come to the well to give an update to my colleagues and to the American 
people through C-SPAN, the millions of citizens who watch through 
television, by way of television, an update on the dreadful human 
rights situation and the details, as I know them, of that Stalinist 
crackdown engaged in by the tyrant of Havana, only 90 miles away from 
the United States.
  And, so, I would like to read a list, and I acknowledge from the 
beginning that it is a partial list, of human rights violations in Cuba 
for the last 4 months. And with that acknowledgment, I would like to 
begin to get into it and then discuss some other aspects of the reality 
of Cuba today.
  March 29, a Danish tourist, there have been a number of incidents 
recently with tourists in Cuba where the government has shown, the 
regime has shown its paranoia and its apprehension about its security 
situation as it has related to tourists, a Danish tourist, Joachim 
Loevschall, somehow mistakenly wandered into a restricted military zone 
and he was shot to death. That was March 29.
  Then began the month of April. And Ramon Rodriguez, father of a well-
known activist, Nestor Rodriguez, president of Young People for 
Democracy, was arrested.
  Also, on April 1, Rafael Ibarra Rogue, president of the Democratic 
Party 30 November, Frank Pais, who is currently serving a sentence of 
20 years in the infamous prison known as Kilo 8, according to 
relatives, was told that he would be denied from having any contact 
with his family or any religious visits. That was April 1.
  April 8, Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, president of Youth for Democracy, 
a group that has become more well-known recently and has developed 
already a number of very impressive young leaders, Youth for Democracy, 
president Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina was arrested and charged with 
``crimes against the state.'' He had previously been arrested in June 
1996 and sentenced to 12 months in prison and an additional 6 months of 
internal exile for the crimes of resistance to authorities and 
disrespect of the revolution. He was sentenced to 18 months in April 
and is currently being held in the Guantanamo Prison.
  Today, July 28, Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina has begun a hunger strike 
that he has announced will last during the days that something called 
the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students lasts. That festival has 
begun also today in Havana. It is a splurge that Castro gives to 
Communists who come from throughout the world to party in Cuba, young 
Communists, while the Cuban people are subjected to the apartheid 
system and the rationing cards that have been imposed upon the people 
since 1962.
  So Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina says that during the duration of this 
party, called the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students, he, as a 
youth leader, is going to fast in protest.
  Of course, he and Cuban students who want to speak out in favor of 
democracy are not allowed to participate in that youth movement 
festival in that party that Castro organizes with funds that the Cuban 
people are denied for international young Communists and revelers and 
partyers.

                              {time}  2215

  April 11. Miguel Angel Aldana, member of the Executive Committee of 
the Concilio Cubano and president of the Martian Civic League, arrived 
in the United States after being forcefully expelled from Cuba. He was 
initially handcuffed, dragged out, and arrested while attending a mass 
in memory of the Brothers to the Rescue pilots who were shot down by 
the Cuban Air Force on February 24, 1996.
  April 22. Israel Feliciano Garcia, representative of the Democratic 
Solidarity Party in the Province of Villa Clara was arrested in his 
home. His wife Arelis Reyes Garcia was also detained for pointing out 
to the police that they did not have a warrant.
  April 30. Radames Garcia de la Vega, vice president of Youth for 
Democracy,

[[Page H5905]]

is arrested and charged with showing, ``contempt for the commander in 
chief,'' Mr. Castro. Since last year Mr. Garcia de la Vega had been 
held in house arrest. On April 30 he was sentenced to 18 months 
imprisonment.
  Rafael Fonseca Ochoa, a member of Young People for Democracy as well, 
was arrested. May 1.
  May 1 also. Ana Maria Agramonte, a member of the Movimiento Accion 
Nacionalista is arrested for ``contempt of the authorities.''
  May 1. Jesus Perez Gomez, Lorenzo Pescoso Leon, and Aguileo Cancio 
Chong were arrested by State Security and held without charge in 
Havana. Aguileo Cancio Chong was beaten at the time that he was 
arrested.
  May 14, 2 weeks later. Cuba Moises Castaneda Rangel, opposition 
activist with the Workers Union Movement and a member of the Seventh 
Day Adventists and his family were subjected to an act of repudiation 
at their home in Villa Clara.
  It might be worthwhile to talk a minute about what an act of 
repudiation is. Government-sponsored mobs are sent to the home of an 
independent journalist or an opposition leader, a dissident, and there 
they throw stones and insults, and if someone comes in and out of the 
house, they physically often attack the people, spit upon them. Those 
are acts of repudiation organized by this system in Havana.
  Ana Maria Agramonte, May 15, a member of Movimiento Accion 
Nacionalista, was sentenced to 18 months in jail for contempt of the 
authorities and resisting arrest.
  May 25. We go back to Cuba Moises Casteneda Rangel who had been 
subjected, he and his family to the act of repudiation May 14, was 
arrested, interrogated, and subjected to psychological torture.
  May 27 was the beginning of Eduardo Gomez Sanchez' third year at the 
Kilo 8 prison. Sanchez was sentenced to 20 years, 20 years, for the 
crime of illegal exit from the country. He suffers from a severe liver 
condition and according to relatives probably has cancer.
  June 10. Leonel Morejon Almagro, the elected leader of Concilio 
Cubano, delivered a message to one of Castro's offices demanding the 
right to hold a peaceful public meeting of his group. Morejon Almagro, 
who was just released from prison where he served 15 months, was beaten 
by State Security agents shortly after delivering the letter to 
Castro's offices.
  Amelo Rodriguez, June 10 also, a well-known member of the opposition 
movement, was arrested by State Security and charged with an 
unspecified, ``act of rebellion.''
  June 16. Nilda Malera Pedraza, a 34-year-old professor of music in 
Guantanamo was fired for ``deviating from official political thought.'' 
Professor Joaquin Lozano was also fired for being ``politically 
unreliable.''
  June 17. Luvia Bonito Lopez, the daughter of independent news 
journalist Ana Luisa Lopez Baeza, was detained and interrogated. Again 
she was detained 3 days later, June 20.
  June 22. Teresa Plateros Rodriguez, a member of the Pro-Human Rights 
Party, was arrested.
  June 23. Hector Peraza Linares, co-director of the Havana Press, 
independent press people, and his wife were arrested, held without 
charge.
  June 24. Dr. Dessy Mendoza Rivero of the dissident Independent 
Medical Association of Santiago was arrested by State Security after 
reporting the epidemic of dengue fever that is sweeping Cuba. She was 
charged with reporting false information. Thousands of people have 
gotten the dengue virus. It is imperiling the health of people 
throughout the island of Cuba and nearby countries and this brave 
doctor who simply let the world know of the fact that there was dengue 
fever sweeping through the island was arrested for ``reporting false 
information.''
  June 25. Edillo Barrero, a 25-year-old farmer, was detained without 
charge by State Security, severely beaten, and died in custody.
  June 28. Orlando Merchante Ricart of the 13th of July Movement was 
expelled from his job after doing an interview with the U.S. 
Information Agency, Radio and Television Marti. The next day he was 
beaten and stripped of his clothing.
  July 1. Luis Alberto Hernandez Suarez of the Democratic Youth Union 
Movement is arrested.
  July 1. Orestes Rodriguez Omuitiner, vice president of Seguidores de 
Chibas, human rights group, is arrested in Santiago.
  July 1. The home of Nancy de Varona, president of the 13th of July 
Movement, is placed under constant State Security surveillance and her 
phones were disconnected.
  July 1. Juan Antonio Gonzalez Dalmau, member of the Cuban Civic 
Current, is detained by State Security.
  July 2. The home of Ileana Someillan, a member of the opposition, is 
searched by State Security.
  July 3. Julio Grenier, another activist in the dissident movement, is 
detained, his house searched, and various items confiscated.
  July 3 as well. Busy day for Castro this July 3. Carlos Raul Jimenez 
of the Nationalist Agenda Movement opposition group, detained by State 
Security.
  July 3 Marta Beatriz Roque, member of the Internal Dissidence Working 
Group, perhaps the most prestigious economist in Cuba today, received a 
death threat from State Security officers.
  July 3. Mercedes Sabourni Lomar of the Nationalist Agenda Movement, 
detained and questioned twice that day by State Security.
  July 3. The home of Vladimiro Roca of the Internal Dissidence Working 
Group and president of the Social Democratic Party is stoned by a 
government-organized mob. Acts of repudiation as we talked about 
earlier. His home was placed under constant surveillance by State 
Security. That is July 3, this busy day for the tyrant. Got a lot of 
pleasure this day, did he not?
  July 3. The wife of Vladimiro Roca, because of her husband's 
activities, is delivered a summons to appear before State Security for 
questioning. She is threatened with exile.
  July 3. Luis Alberto Hernandez Suarez of the Democratic Youth Union 
Movement is arrested by State Security in Pinar del Rio.
  July 3. Jose Orlando Rodriguez Bridon of the Democratic Workers 
Confederation detained by State Security after leaving the home of 
Marta Beatriz Roque.

  July 3. Odilia Valdes Collazo, President of the Pro Human Rights 
Party and member of the Internal Dissidence Working Group, detained by 
State Security.
  July 3. Orestes Rodriguez Brea, Vice President of the 13th of July 
Movement, detained by State Security, placed under house arrest.
  July 3. Dr. Frank Hernandez Loveira, Dr. Elias Vicent and Ana Maria 
Caballero, members of the 13th of July Movement, are visited and 
threatened by State Security.
  July 3. Manual Fernandez Rocha, President of the Historical Studies 
Forum and lawyer for the Agramonte Current opposition group, detained 
by State Security.
  July 3. Mercedes Sabourni Lomar, Secretary of the Nationalist Agenda 
Movement opposition group, receives two summons to appear before State 
Security.
  Fourth of July. Jorge Gonzalez Puentes of the 13th of July Movement, 
detained by State Security, his old typewriter confiscated, and ordered 
to stay in his home until August.
  July 4. Juan Ruiz Armenteros, Vice President of the Assistance 
Committee of the Internal Dissidence Working Group, Arnaldo Ramos 
Lauzurique of the Cuban Independent Economists Institute, and Georgina 
de las Mercedes Gonzalez Corbo of the Cuban Civic Current all threated 
by State Security at their homes, told not to leave.
  July 4. Felix Bonne Carcasses of the Internal Dissidence Working 
Group is followed and threatened by State Security.
  July 4. Juan Antonio Gonzalez Dalmau of the Cuban Civic Current 
opposition group, detained for questioning by State Security.
  July 5. John Mendez Diaz and Osvaldo Caballero, a former political 
prisoner, both of the 13th of July Movement, detained by State 
Security.
  July 5. Rafael Garcia Suarez of the Democratic Workers Confederation, 
arrested by State Security.
  July 5. Raul Pimentel, President of an independent environmental 
group and opposition activist, arrested by State Security.
  July 6. Raul Rojas, member of the Democratic Youth Movement, detained

[[Page H5906]]

by State Security after leaving the home of Marta Beatriz Roque, the 
economist. He is currently staging a hunger strike in prison.
  July 6. Manuel Sanchez, member of the Internal Dissidence Working 
Group, threatened by State Security.
  July 6. Nancy Gutierrez Perez, member of the Democratic Pacifist 
Movement, visited twice by State Security and threatened. ``Stop your 
activities,'' they told her.
  July 7. Lazaro Lazo, an independent journalist and director of the 
Independent Press Bureau of Cuba, is threatened with attack by State 
Security, unless he immediately abandons his independent press 
activities.
  July 10. Nicolas Rosario Rozabal, a correspondent for the independent 
Havana Press in Santiago was arrested by State Security.
  July 11. Osvaldo Paya Sardinas, President of the Christian Liberation 
Movement, and fellow opposition activist Rene Montes de Oca are 
detained. Montes de Oca remains in detention.
  July 12. Dr. Augusto Madrigal Izaguirre, director of the Cuban 
Independent College of Medicine, detained and questioned by State 
Security. Dr. Madrigal Izaguirre is active with the independent medical 
movement.
  Lorenzo Paez Nunez, July 12, an independent journalist, sentenced to 
18 months in prison for ``disrespecting Cuba's national police.''
  July 12. Nancy de Varona, President of the July 13 Movement, is 
arrested. In addition, all of the executive committee members of the 
group are questioned by State Security that day.
  July 13 was coming, the anniversary.
  July 12. Juan Carlos Vasquez Garcia, a 26-year-old author from 
Cienfuegos, arrested by State Security.
  July 13, the third anniversary of the sinking of the tug boat where 
over 70 refugees were trying to flee that hell which is Castro's Cuba 
and they were sunk pursuant to the orders of the tyrant, and more than 
40 refugees died, including more than 20 children. That is July 13, the 
third anniversary, 3 years ago.
  That day this year, Herbiberto Leyva Rodriguez, a member of Young 
People for Democracy, was detained and he is still being held at the 
provincial headquarters of the National Police in Palma Soriano in 
Santiago. He has been charged with, quote, disrespect to a judge, 
because at the end of the trial of Randames Garcia de la Vega, he 
exclaimed, ``This is proof that in Cuba there is no freedom or 
democracy.'' So he is still being held in prison for that.
  July 16. Marta Beatriz Roque, the head of the independent economists 
that I referred to earlier, Feliz Bonne Carcaces, Vladimiro Roca and 
Rene Gomez Manzano, all leaders of the Internal Dissidence Working 
Group, were arrested. At that time they were taken to State Security 
headquarters at Villa Marista.
  The four of them, the rest of those four leading opposition leaders 
is the only incident, Mr. Speaker, all these human rights violations 90 
miles away that I have referred to, that our local newspaper here, the 
Washington Post, has reported. A very large article here in the 
Washington Post. Page A22, July 18.

                    Key Dissidents Arrested in Cuba

       The Cuban government said today that 4 dissidents are under 
     arrest and are being investigated on suspicion of 
     counterrevolutionary activities. Foreign Ministry spokesman 
     Miguel Alfonso confirmed the arrests, reported by diplomatic 
     and dissident sources, at a weekly briefing. Vladimiro Roca, 
     Martha Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne Carcasses and Rene Gomez 
     Manzano, who lead the Working Group of Internal Dissidence, 
     were arrested by State Security Wednesday, the sources said. 
     It is extremely unusual for authorities to comment on arrests 
     of Cuba's small and illegal dissident groups.

  There has been a tyranny 38 years in Cuba. It allows no opposition. 
It reiterates that it will never hold elections while this tyrant is 
alive and never intends to unless it is forced to. It is engaged in a 
Stalinist crackdown that I have begun to describe and we see here the 
extent of coverage by the national media, the Washington Post, page 
A22, July 18.
  Historians will have to describe why this reality exists that for 
some reason this tyrant can murder and imprison and use medicines for 
psychological torture and engage in electroshock therapy of political 
prisoners, and the reality of that regime is simply not covered by the 
national or international media. In fact, there have to be bombs placed 
in the hotels where Ms. Lucia Newman is of CNN in order for her to 
report that there are incidences of opposition to the regime.
  It is so sad, Mr. Speaker. But it is a reality.

                              {time}  2230

  July 16, Luis Lopez Prendes, a journalist with the Independent Press 
Bureau of Cuba, is arrested by State security. He was among the first 
to report the bombings that I just referred to in tourist hotels in 
Havana on July 12.
  July 17, Edel Jose Garcia Diaz is a journalist with the independent 
press agency Centro Norte del Pais, subjected to a government sponsored 
act of repudiation at his home.
  July 17, Porfirio Batista Rodriquez, a member of the Pro Human Rights 
Party, is detained and interrogated by state security in Santa Clara.
  July 17, Marilis Blazques Aparicio, member of the internal opposition 
and widow of former political prisoner Reynaldo Jimenez Herrera, is 
detained, interrogated and warned to abandon her counterrevolutionary 
activities.
  July 17, David Flores Diaz, a member of the Democratic Solidarity 
Party in Villa Clara, is detained and interrogated by state security.
  July 17, Cuba Moises Castaneda Rangel, member of the opposition 
Workers Union Movement and an active Seventh Day Adventist, is arrested 
and held in handcuffs in an underground blackout cell 48 hours and 
charged with ``dangerousness.''
  July 19, State Security agents visit Ledonel Morejon Almagro and his 
wife Zohiris Aguilar Callejas at their home, where they are 
interrogated and threatened from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. regarding their 
peaceful opposition activities within Concilio Cubano and Alianza 
Nacional Cubana. State Security warned Morejon Almagro that if he 
proceeds with this activism he will be sentenced to 25 years in prison, 
not 15 months like he was sentenced in 1996, but 25 years.
  Similar visits were received by other signers of a document that I 
have here in my possession asking Castro to permit a plebescite like 
Pinochet, the dictator of Chile, permitted a few years ago. For that 
they were visited and said you will get 25 years if you continue with 
this, not 15 months like last time.
  Also visited that night, July 19, Reinaldo Cozano Leon, Aguileo 
Cancio Chong, Ibrain Carrillo Fernandez, Neri Gorortiza Campoalegre, 
Jose Pastor Leon and Cecilia Zamora Cabrera.
  July 20, Amnesty International issues a 13-page report titled Medical 
Concerns, where Amnesty International indicates their concern that 
political prisoners are not receiving adequate medical care in Cuba, 
and citing international sources, Amnesty International states that 
many political prisoners already suffer from malnutrition and excessive 
weight loss due to poor nutrition, which leads to anemia, diarrhea, 
parasite infections. Some of the most serious conditions developed 
include optic neuropathy, tuberculosis, beriberi and leptospirosis. 
Amnesty International also states that the conditions and solitary 
confinements of Cuban prisoners are brutally inhumane, lacking beds and 
mattresses and even natural or artificial lights. Political prisoners 
are also sent to prisons, according to Amnesty International, hundreds 
of miles away from their families, which makes family visits and 
contact practically impossible.
  Amnesty International has also issued urgent action appeals for the 
arrests of the four leaders of the internal dissidents movement and 
also for Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez and the other leaders of the Young 
People for Democracy. I would like to at this point, Mr. Speaker, 
insert into the Record Amnesty International's urgent action appeal.
                                      Amnesty International USA's,


                                          Urgent Action Appeal

                                                    July 18, 1997.
       Further information on EXTRA 106/96 issued 11 July 1996 and 
     re-issued 24 September 1996 and 3 June 1997 Legal concern/
     Ill-treatment and new concerns: harassment/prisoner of 
     conscience/possible POC.
       CUBA: Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, Radames Garcia de la Vega, 
     Ramon Rodriguez, Rafael Fonseca Ochoa, new name: Heriberto 
     Leyva Rodriguez.
       Amnesty International is concerned at further developments 
     relating to members of an unofficial youth group called 
     Jovenes por la

[[Page H5907]]

     Democracia, Young People for Democracy, which has been 
     campaigning for, amongst other things, changes in the Cuban 
     university system. Radames Garcia de la Vega, who was 
     detained on 30 April 1997, was reportedly tried on 17 June 
     1997 and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, charged with 
     ``desacato a la figura del Comandante en Jefe'', ``disrespect 
     to the Commander in Chief'', i.e. President Fidel Castro.
       Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez, also a member of the group, 
     Young People for Democracy, was reportedly detained on 13 
     July 1997 and is being held at the provincial headquarters of 
     the National Police in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba 
     province. He has been charged with ``desacato a un juez'', 
     ``disrespect to a judge'', reportedly because, at the end of 
     the trial of Radames Garcia de la Vega, he exclaimed ``Esto 
     es una prueba de que en Cuba no existe libertad ni 
     democracia'', ``This is proof that in Cuba there is no 
     freedom or democracy''.
       Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, President of the group, remains 
     imprisoned in the Combinado de Guantanamo Prison. He had been 
     sentenced in April 1997 to 18 months' imprisonment, charged 
     with ``resisting authority'' and ``disrespect''.
       There is no new information about Nestor Rodriguez' father, 
     Ramon Rodriguez, or Rafael Fonseca Ochoa, also a member of 
     Young People for Democracy, who were both threatened with 
     arrest in April and May 1997 respectively.
       Amnesty International is seeking the immediate and 
     unconditional release of prisoners of conscience, Nestor 
     Rodriguez Lobaina, Radames Garcia de la Vega and Heriberto 
     Leyva. The organization believes they have been detained 
     solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of 
     expression, association and assembly.
       Further recommended action: Please send telegrams/telexes/
     faxes/express/airmail letters: urging that Nestor Rodriguez 
     Lobaina, Radames Garcia de la Vega and Heriberto Leyva 
     Rodriguez be immediately and unconditionally released, on the 
     grounds that they are prisoners of conscience, detained 
     solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of 
     expression, association and assembly; urging that Heriberto 
     Leyva Rodriguez be granted immediate access to a lawyer of 
     his choice; urging that no reprisals be taken against 
     relatives and others who try to make these cases public.
       Appeals to: (1) Attorney-General: (Salutation) (Sr Fiscal 
     General/Dear Attorney General).
       Dr. Juan Escalona Reguera, Fiscal General de la Republica, 
     Fiscalia General de la Republica, San Rafael 3, La Habana, 
     Cuba, [Telegrams: Fiscal General, Havana, Cuba], [Telex: 
     511456 fisge].
       (2) Minister of Foreign Affairs: (Senor Ministro/Dear 
     Minister), Sr Roberto Robaina Gonzalez, Ministro de 
     Relaciones Exteriores, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, 
     Calzada No. 360, Vedado, La Habana, Cuba, [Telegrams: 
     Ministro Relaciones Exteriores, Havana, Cuba], [Telex: 
     511122/511464/512950], [Fax: 011 53 7 333085/011 53 7 
     335261].
       (3) Minister of the Interior: (Senor Ministro/Dear 
     Minister), General Abelardo Colome Ibarra, Ministro de 
     Interior, Ministerio del Interior, Plaza de la Revolucion, La 
     Habana, Cuba, [Telegrams: Ministro Interior, Havana, Cuba].
       (4) Department of State Security: (Senor Director/Dear 
     Sir), Sr Director, Departamento de Seguridad del Estado, 
     Versalles, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba [Telegrams: Director, 
     Seguridad del Estado, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba].
       COPIES TO: National Union of Jurists: Union Nacional de 
     Juristas, Apartado 4161, La Habana 4, Cuba.
       Editor of Granma (daily newspaper), Sr Jacinto Granda de 
     Laserna, Granma, Apdo 6260, La Habana, Cuba.
       For Urgent Action participants in the United States: Cuba 
     has no embassy in the U.S. at present. To contact its 
     interest in the U.S., write: Cuban Interests Section Mr. 
     Fernando Remirez de Estenoz, 2630-16th St. NW, Washington, DC 
     20009.
       Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado 
     office between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Mountain Time, 
     weekdays only, if sending appeals after August 29, 1997.

  July 22, 4:55 p.m. while dictating news to international news 
services, Lazaro Lazo and Cruz Lima, directors of the Agencia Patria 
news organizations in Camaguey and Ciego de Avila provinces, were 
detained and taken to an unknown destination.
  July 22, Pascual Escalona Naranjo, National Coordinator of the 
Movimiento Pro Derechos Humanos Golfo de Guacanayabo, was detained 
under charges of dangerousness. His wife, Mirta Leyva Lopez, was 
threatened that she and her husband would lose custody of their 2 
children by socially and morally deforming them and planting ideas in 
them contrary to those of a Communist education.
  I think it is important to repeat what I just said. On July 22, when 
2 dissidents were rounded up, they were told, the wife of Pascual 
Escalona Naranjo was told, that her 2 children, aged 10 and 8, would be 
taken from them because of their advocacy of democracy, their peaceful 
advocacy of democracy. Their children will be taken, your children will 
be taken away from you because of socially and morally deforming them. 
They say implanting ideas in them contrary to those with communist 
education.
  This is unprecedented and unparalleled in history. Often people ask 
me why is it that Castro has lasted 38 years? There are many factors. 
But where in the world are peaceful pro democracy activists told that 
they are going to lose their children if they advocate democracy? 
Ninety miles away from the United States, in that land that the 
national media does not report what is going on. That is going on in 
Cuba, unprecedented and totally unconscionable.
  July 24, Ricardo Gonzalez and Juan Antonio Sanchez Rodriguez, 
journalists for the independent news bureau Cuba Press, were assaulted 
by Cuban State Security. During the assault State Security agents stole 
their computer.
  Today, July 28, my office received information that Jorge Garcia 
Perez Antonez and Jesus Chamber Ramirez have been transferred from the 
infamous Kilo 8 prison to unknown locations where their families cannot 
visit them, families do not know where they are. No one knows where 
they are.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, a phenomenon that is common among Cuban political 
prisoners is the highest rate of cancer of prison population in the 
entire world.
  When Leonel Morejon Almagro was first sentenced to the 15-month 
prison term in 1996 during which, by the way, around 70 of us here in 
the House, and I thank my colleagues who joined in that marvelous 
petition, so full of dignity seeking the Nobel Peace Prize for this 
young lawyer and pro democracy activist in Cuba, Leonel Morejon 
Almagro. When he was first sentenced to 15 months, last time in 1996, 
he was placed in the same prison cell where the renown political 
prisoner, Sebastian Arcos, was previously placed. Arcos, that man who 
is such an exemplary leader and who now is in exile and very sick in 
Miami, was denied medical attention for cancer while being confined in 
that cell for 3 years.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, during these days that I have mentioned in this 
survey with the partial, very limited list of human rights violations 
that have reached me, the thousands of others, the thousands of other 
Cuban political prisoners, continued suffering the same savage 
brutality that they, in fact, continue to suffer to this very moment.
  Col. Enrique Labrada continues to receive electroshock torture at the 
Mazorra Institution for the mentally ill. Labrada was sent there after 
staging a pro democracy protest on June 21, 1995. Sergio Aguiar Cruz, 
Francisco Chaviano, Omar del Poso, Jose Miranda, Jesus Chamber Ramirez, 
and so many others remain in dungeons in the 176 known prisoners, 176 
known prisons where pro democracy political prisoners are kept in the 
enslaved Island of Cuba.
  Now I want to thank at this point the American Bar Association for 
naming 2 of these Cuban human rights activists as winners of the 
prestigious ABA Litigation Section International Human Rights Award, 
Rene Gomez Manzano and Leonel Morejon Almagro. Of course Almagro is 
today in prison, and Manzano, who served his 15 months sentence, has 
just been told that if he continues in his activities, I am sure he 
will continue in because he is extraordinarily brave and admirable, he 
has been threatened for those peaceful activities by the regime, as I 
have just stated, to 25, that he will be sentenced to 25 years.
  I would like to insert at this point in the Record the award given by 
the ABA to these 2 distinguished Cuban lawyers and human rights 
activists, Mr. Speaker.

 Two Cuban Lawyers Named Winners of Prestigious ABA Litigation Section 
                    International Human Rights Award

       Chicago, July 9--Two Cuban lawyers who have represented 
     dissidents in human rights cases, and founded independent 
     organizations seeking to promote the rule of law in Cuba, 
     will receive the annual International Human Rights Award from 
     the American Bar Association Section of Litigation, during 
     the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco next month.
       Rene Gomez Manzano and Leonel Morejon Almagro are the 1997 
     award recipients. ABA Section of Litigation Chair Barry F. 
     McNeil will present the awards during a noon luncheon on 
     Tuesday, Aug. 5, in the California West room of the Westin 
     St. Francis Hotel. Michael Tigar, past chair of the 
     Litigation

[[Page H5908]]

     Section and defense attorney for Oklahoma City bombing 
     suspect Terry Nichols, will deliver the keynote address.
       Gomez Manzano and Morejon Almagro are expected to attend 
     the ceremony to accept their awards, provided they are 
     allowed to travel to San Francisco and return to Cuba.
       Gomez Manzano is the founder of Corriente Agramontista, an 
     independent professional organization of lawyers in Cuba. 
     Morejon Almagro is one of the founders of the Concilio 
     Cubano, an umbrella organization of lawyers, journalists, 
     accountants, economists and human rights activists.
       The theme for the Litigation Section Meeting is, ``Bridge 
     to the Future: Advocacy in a High-Tech World.'' The Section's 
     meeting is held in conjunction with the ABA 1997 Annual 
     Meeting, July 31-Aug. 6.
       ``Award recipients have pursued the highest ideals of our 
     profession in the face of extraordinary adversity,'' said 
     Christopher Wall, chair of the nomination process. ``These 
     individuals face persecution for advocating rights we too 
     often take for granted in the United States. We hope the 
     award will provide international recognition that will help 
     protect the award recipients from government reprisals.''
       The Section of Litigation award annually recognizes lawyers 
     and judges who have made extraordinary contributions in 
     foreign countries to the causes of human rights, the rule of 
     law, and promotion of access to justice.
       ``These courageous lawyers should be commended for their 
     tireless efforts, and for holding to the belief that all 
     individuals have a right to a fair and unbiased judicial 
     process. We are proud to honor Dr. Gomez Manzano and Dr. 
     Morejon Almagro for their dedication and commitment to 
     promoting justice for Cuban citizens.''
       In particular, the award recognizes the following 
     contributions:
       Rene Gomez Manzano, a Cuban lawyer, has worked for years 
     defending cases involving human rights violations. He has 
     openly criticized irregularities in court proceedings, and 
     has been arrested and detained many times with no charges 
     brought against him. He has been banned from the Supreme 
     Court and expelled from his lawyers' collective. In 1990, 
     Gomez Manzano helped organize the Corriente Agramontista, a 
     group of lawyers willing to litigate political cases against 
     the state. He has tried to register the organization as an 
     independent law office responsible only to its clients and 
     not the Cuban government. This request has been ignored, and 
     meetings have been disrupted or prevented from taking place. 
     The Corriente Agramontista seeks to reform Cuba's judicial 
     system from within requiring the Cuban government to obey its 
     own laws. Its 1991 manifesto calls for the establishment of a 
     developed rule of law, an independent judiciary, and the 
     democratization and decentralization of the system of state 
     run law offices. In an article that appeared in the July 19, 
     1995, issue of American Lawyer, Gomez Manzano described the 
     group's philosophy: ``We are not of one political current. We 
     are a movement at the service of the whole country, whether 
     Socialist, Christian Democratic or whatever. We are simply 
     lawyers, professionals.''
       Leonel Morejon Almagro, a Cuban lawyer, has faced repeated 
     harassment for defending clients in cases against the 
     government. In 1995 he was instrumental in establishing the 
     Concilio Cubano, an umbrella organization composed of 
     approximately 140 groups, including the Corriente 
     Agramontista. The group's mission is to ``promote a peaceful 
     transition to a democratic constitutional state and the 
     establishment of a legal framework to guarantee the 
     observance of universally accepted human rights.'' The 
     Concilio Cubano has sought legal recognition from the 
     government, which has been denied. The government has engaged 
     in a campaign of harassment against the organization and its 
     members since its inception. This campaign intensified after 
     the Concilio Cubano formally requested authorization from the 
     Cuban government to hold a national meeting in February 1996. 
     Morejon Almagro was arrested, tried without due process, and 
     sentenced to 15 months in prison for ``disrespect.'' During 
     his detention, human rights organizations called for his 
     release, and 57 congressmen signed a letter nominating him 
     for the Nobel Peace Prize. Since his release only a few 
     months ago, the Concilio Cubano has again petitioned the 
     Cuban government requesting that the organization be allowed 
     to meet, and Morejon Almagro has again been assaulted by 
     government agents.
       The Litigation Section of the American Bar Association 
     includes approximately 60,000 trial lawyers, judges and 
     others involved in all aspects of litigation and the dispute 
     resolution process. The Litigation Section is dedicated to 
     promoting justice both domestically and internationally and 
     enhancing public understanding of and respect for the legal 
     profession.
  Also a brilliant and very impacting and important document named The 
Homeland, or The Nation, I guess, would be a better translation, the 
Nation Belongs To All, precisely by the four leaders of the Cuban 
dissidents task group. This statement is, as I say, of extraordinary 
importance. I thank Freedom House, commend Freedom House, for its 
translation and would encourage all my colleagues and those listening, 
watching through C-SPAN, to read this document.
  Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned briefly before, July 13 was the third 
anniversary of perhaps the most heinous, coldblooded crime, if it is 
possible to pinpoint any one crime of the Cuban tyrants in 38 years, 
the sinking of a boat full of refugees, and I do not think, I surely 
have never done this, I would like to read the names. There were four 
of the refugees who were missing, who are missing and are unaccounted 
for. Their names are not known. But 37 of the lost at sea that day are 
accounted for, and I would like to read their names and their ages.
  These people, as I say, they had gone into a tugboat and were seeking 
to leave in 1994, July 13, and the order was given to sink them, and of 
course with power hoses they started trying to--that was how the 
aggression was first committed before these steel, other modern steel 
tugboats ran them and finally cracked opened the hull and this old 
tugboat sank, killing over 40 people.
  But at the time that the power hoses began to be used against the 
refugees the refugees lifted some of the babies up so that they could 
see with the reflectors that they had children on board. That did not 
stop them. They continued with the power hoses, and of course then sank 
them, and more than 40 died. I insert these names into the Record, Mr. 
Speaker.

                            Tugboat March 13


                    passenger's list, july 13, 1994

       Juan Mario Gutierrez Garcia, age 11.
       Giselle Borges Alvarez, age 4.
       Eliesser Suarez, age 11.
       Cindy Rodriguez Hernandez, age 2.
       Jose Carlos Nicle Anaya, age 3.
       Angel Rene Abreu Ruiz, age 3.
       Caridad Leyva Tacoronte, age 4.
       Yousel Eugenio Perez Tacoronte, age 11.
       Gelen Martinez Enrique, age 6 months.
       Yasel Perodin, age 11.
       Liset Alvarez Guerra, age 24.
       Lazaro Borges Briel, age 34.
       Guillermo Cruz Martinez, age 46.
       Joel Garcia Suarez, age 20.
       Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro, age 25.
       Amado Gonzalez Raices, age 50.
       Fidencio Ramel Prieti Hernandez, age 50.
       Rigoberto Peud Gonzalez, age 31.
       Jorge Balmaseda Castillo, age 24.
       Eduardo Suarez Esquivel, age 39.
       Estrella Suarez Esquivel, age 45.
       Omar Rodriguez Suarez, age 29.
       Miralis Hernandez, age 26.
       Rosa Maria Alcalde Puig, age 47.
       Marta Carrasco, age 44.
       Yaltamira Anaya, age 22.
       Julia Caridad Ruiz Blanco, age 35.
       Jorge, Arquimides Lebrigido Flores, age 28.
       Leonardo Notario Gongora, age 27.
       Marta Caridad Tacoronte Vega, age 36.
       Mayulis Mendez Tacoronte, age 16.
       Odalis Munos Garcia, age 20.
       Mydalis Sanabria Cabrera, age 19.
       Reynaldo Marrero, age 45.
       Yuliana Enriquez Carrazana, age 23.
       Pilar Almanza Romero, age 30.
       Manuel Sanchez Gallol, age 59.
       Mylena Labrada Tacoronte, age 3.
       Susana Rojas Martinez, age 8.
       Daney Estevez Martinez, age 3.
       Yandi Gustavo Martinez Hidalgo, age 9.
       Sergio Perodin, age 7.
       Maria Victoria Garcia Suarez, age 28.
       Mayda Tacoronte Vega, age 28.
       Deysi Martinez Fundora, age 27.
       Jusanny Tuero Sierra, age 20.
       Janet Hernandez Gutierrez, age 19.
       Jorge Luis Cuba Suarez, age 23.
       Ivan Prieto Suarez, age 26.
       Dariel Prieto Suarez, age 22.
       Gustavo Guillermo Martinez Gutierrez, age 37.
       Juan Gustavo Bargaza del Rino, age 39.
       Juan Fidel Gonzalez Salinas, age 35.
       Daniel Erik Herrera Diaz, age 21.
       Eugenio Fuentes Diaz, age 28.
       Arquimides Lebrrigido Gamboa, age 52.
       Jorge Alberto Hernandez Avila.
       Raul Ernesto Munos Garcia, age 23.
       Reynaldo Marrero Carrazana.
       Roman Lugo Martinez, age 36.
       Sergia Perodin Almanza, age 38.
       Frank Gonzalez Vazquez, age 20.
       Modesto Almanza Romero, age 28.
       Jose Fabian Valdez Coton, age 17.
       Julio Cesar Dominguez Alcalde, age 32.
       Pedro Francisco Crespo Galego, age 31.
       Juan Bernardo Varela Amaro.
       Armando Morales Piloto, age 37.

                              {time}  2245

  They remain at the bottom of the sea about 7 miles out of Havana 
Harbor. The Cuban Government has never permitted anyone to go and seek 
the remains, to give them proper burial. Despite numerous requests from 
people within Cuba, as well as in the international community, for the 
Government to bring someone to justice, it has not, and of course it 
cannot, because it is the tyrant himself, the evidence dictates beyond 
all shadow of any doubt, who gave the order. So that is something that 
is going to have to be dealt with as soon as possible.
  I would like to at this point also mention an article that did not 
come

[[Page H5909]]

out in the press here, but did come out in the press in Madrid in the 
ABC newspaper, which is one of the most prestigious and oldest 
newspapers in Madrid.
  A doctor in Cuba in charge of the AIDS center in Santiago, Las Vegas, 
near Havana, has admitted that over 100 young people in Cuba have been 
injected with the AIDS virus in an experiment; that 90 percent of them 
have died; that they were told that, at the time they were injected, 
that there was a good chance that there would be a vaccine, a cure, 
developed before anything would happen to them, and that in the 
interim, they would be in a five-star luxury resort.
  This is an admission by Dr. Jorge Perez, the director of the AIDS 
treatment center at Santiago Las Vegas in Havana. I have heard nothing 
from the national media in the United States, nothing on CNN, and yet 
an admission from this Cuban doctor was published in the ABC newspaper, 
this monstrosity.
  The doctor said, ``We sinned from paternalism by presenting the AIDS 
detention center as a paradise.'' This monstrosity is something that I 
think the media has an obligation to bring to the international 
community and that the national media in the United States has an 
obligation to bring to the American people.
  What we have, Mr. Speaker, is a tyrant whose jokes continue to be 
laughed at and his beard caressed by even some of our colleagues who go 
and visit there occasionally and laugh at his jokes, while his crimes 
are not even reported. The American people are not told about what he 
is doing.
  Nevertheless, the instinct, the sense that the American people have 
about the fact that that tyrant is an enemy of the United States and a 
hater of his own people, is very strong and something that I think that 
history will see as a distinguishing characteristic of the American 
people, that ever wise, deeply wise American people.
  Of course, the Cuban people will always be grateful for the sense of 
solidarity that has always come in that distinctive way from the people 
of this great Nation, the United States of America. I want to thank 
Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Davidow for stating, and I read it today, 
his remarks: ``The hemisphere cannot reach its potential, cannot become 
whole, cannot be fully democratic, cannot fully confront the realities 
of economic globalism or meet the challenges of crime, narcotics, human 
rights abuses, and other transnational issues, when one nation, Cuba, 
remains undemocratic.''
  I thank him for that statement. It rings out as distinctive in this 
world, which demonstrates consistently such lack of solidarity and such 
lack of care, such lack of concern, such lack of awareness toward what 
is happening in the holocaust occurring 90 miles to that unarmed 
people, the Cuban people.
  I think that obviously much more must be said, but, nevertheless, the 
statements of Secretary Davidow are to be commended and thanked. We 
will continue speaking, Mr. Speaker, on the reality of the Cuban 
tyranny, on human rights violations, on the fact that there is a cover-
up going on by the Government, President Clinton, against the drug 
smuggling activities that the Cuban tyrant has engaged in.
  My colleagues, the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Dan Burton, and the 
gentlewoman from Florida, Ms. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and I wrote a letter 
to General McCaffrey, the director of the Office of National Drug 
Control Policy, back in November, with page after page of evidence, and 
including other unclassified evidence that we have of Castro's 
participation in the drug trade.
  We were very disappointed with his lack of response and also the lack 
of response of other agencies. There should be no contradiction between 
what the field people in south Florida tell us, and they have told us 
on tape of the fact that over 50 percent of the cocaine that comes into 
the United States in the Caribbean comes through or by Castro's Cuba, 
and the cover-up that we see time and time again from the top of the 
DEA and the White House.
  That is unacceptable, and we are going to continue to talk about 
that, and we are going to have another Special Order soon specifically 
limited to this evidence that is being covered up of Castro's 
participation in the drug trade.
  This is poisoning the youth of America, and for whatever reasons, of 
appeasement, of not wanting to confront Castro, a fear that he will 
release refugees, or whatever the fear is caused by, that appeasement 
is caused by, it is simply inexcusable that there is a cover-up of that 
dictatorship's participation in the drug trade.
  So we will have another of these Special Orders in the next weeks, 
specifically on the evidence of Castro's participation in the drug 
trade and, thus, the cover-up that is occurring by the administration 
of the evidence that it knows, it has, of Castro's participation in the 
drug trade.
  Suffice it to say at this point that there is an indictment ready to 
be filed by the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida 
charging the Cuban Government as a racketeering enterprise, and 15 
members of the hierarchy of the Cuban dictatorship, charging them with 
cocaine trafficking into the United States, and that because of a 
political decision, that indictment was put into a drawer and it has 
been hidden. It has not been authorized to be issued.
  In addition to that, a drug trafficker who was arrested last year not 
only implicated Castro personally in multiple drug deals but agreed to 
go in under surveillance and do another deal with Castro, and the 
administration has shut that up as well.
  So we will continue to talk about these subjects. The American people 
deserve it.

                          ____________________