[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 14 (Tuesday, February 24, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H550-H556]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CONTINUED REPRESSION 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.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Madam Speaker, today, February 24th, is a very 
important day in the history of Cuba. It is the day that in 1895 the 
war of independence of the Republic of Cuba began. After almost a 
century of fighting, the Cuban people began the war of independence of 
1895 on February 24th, a war that was ultimately successful.
  And names that already had become not only part of martyrdom but of 
history, names like Cespedes and Agramonte and Aguilera, the founding 
fathers of the Cuban republic that had launched the first war of 
independence in 1868, a war that lasted 10 years, that caused hundreds 
of thousands of casualties, those names were added in the war that 
began in 1895 on this date to many others that also became part of 
martyrdom and of history, names like Marti and Banderas and some names 
from the prior war that again that took part in the war of independence 
that was successful in 1895, names like Gomez and Maceo. So this is a 
very important date in the history of Cuba, and it is important to 
remember it.
  It is also a very important date, Madam Speaker, now in the history 
of the United States, a date that is already not only part of history 
but has been bloodied just 2 years ago, on the 24th of February, 1996, 
when the Brothers to the Rescue airplanes were on a humanitarian 
mission over the Straits of Florida and were shot down and four 
innocent civilians were killed.
  I would like to, if I may, Madam Speaker, read a part of an opinion 
issued just a few weeks ago, a final judgment by the United States 
District Court of the Southern District of Florida, specifically 
written by Federal Judge James Lawrence King, where this incident of 
just 2 years ago is detailed. Not only is it described in all its 
brutality but some of the most, I think, extraordinary characteristics 
of this brutal incident are laid out.
  Judge King writes in his order of just a few weeks ago, the 
government of Cuba on February 24, 1996, in outrageous contempt for 
international law and basic human rights, murdered four human beings in 
international airspace over the Florida Straits. The victims were 
Brothers to the Rescue pilots flying two civilian unarmed planes on a 
routine humanitarian mission searching for rafters in the waters 
between Cuba and the Florida Keys.
  As the civilian planes flew over international waters, a Russian-
built MiG-29 of the Cuban Air Force, without warning, reason or 
provocation blasted the defenseless planes out of the sky with 
sophisticated air-to-air missiles in two separate attacks.
  The pilots and their aircraft disintegrated in the midair explosions 
following the impact of the missiles. The destruction was so complete 
that the four bodies were never recovered.
  One of the victims, Armando Alejandre, was 45 years old at the time 
of his death. Although born in Cuba, Alejandre made Miami, Florida, his 
home at an early age and became a citizen of the United States. 
Alejandre served an active tour of duty for 8 months in Vietnam, 
completed his college education at Florida International University and 
worked as a consultant to the Metro Dade County Transit Authority at 
the time of his death. He is survived by his wife of 21 years, Marlene 
Alejandre, and his daughter Marlene, a college student.
  Carlos Costa was born in the United States in 1966 and resided in 
Miami. He was only 29 years old when the Cuban government ended his 
life. Always interested in aviation and hoping to some day oversee the 
operations of a major airport, Costa earned his Bachelor's Degree at 
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and worked as a training 
specialist for the Dade County Aviation Department. He is survived by 
his parents, Mirta Costa and Osvaldo Costa, and by his sister Mirta 
Mendez.
  Mario De la Pena was also born in the United States and was 24 years 
old at the time of his death. Working toward his goal of being an 
airline pilot, De la Pena was in his last semester at Embry-Riddle when 
he was killed. During that semester he had obtained a coveted and 
highly competitive internship with American Airlines. Embry-Riddle 
granted De la Pena a bachelor's degree in professional aeronautics 
posthumously. He is survived by a younger brother, Michael De la Pena, 
and his parents, Mario and Miriam De la Pena.
  Pablo Morales was the fourth victim. His survivors are not part of 
this court case. That is why Pablo, a marvelous young man also, who 
himself had been rescued by Brothers to the Rescue, is

[[Page H551]]

not mentioned in this opinion by the Federal Court.

  The court then describes the shoot-down.
  Alejandre, Costa and De la Pena were all members of a Miami-based 
organization known as Hermanos al Rescate, or Brothers to the Rescue. 
The organization's principal mission was to search the Florida Straits 
for rafters, Cuban refugees, who had fled the island nation on 
precarious inner tubes or makeshift rafts, often perishing at sea. 
Brothers to the Rescue would locate the rafters and provide them with 
life-saving assistance by informing the Coast Guard of their location 
and condition.
  On the morning of February 24, 1996, Brothers to the Rescue's 
civilian Cessna 337 aircraft departed from Opa-Locka in South Florida. 
Costa piloted one plane, accompanied by Pablo Morales; De la Pena 
piloted the second plane, with Alejandre as his passenger.
  Before departing, the planes notified both Miami and Havana traffic 
controllers of their flight plans, which were to take them south of the 
24th parallel. The 24th parallel, well north of Cuba's 12-mile 
territorial sea, is the northernmost boundary of the Havana flight 
information region. Commercial and civilian aircraft routinely fly in 
this area, and aviation practice requires that they notify Havana's 
traffic controllers when crossing south through the 24th parallel.
  Both Brothers to the Rescue planes complied with this custom by 
contacting Havana, identifying themselves and stating their position 
and altitude.
  While the planes were still north of the 24th parallel which, as the 
judge stated, is well north of the 12-mile territorial limit, the Cuban 
Air Force launched two military aircraft, a MiG-29 and a MiG-23, 
operating under the control of Cuba's military ground station. The MiGs 
carried guns, close-range missiles, bombs and rockets and were piloted 
by members of the Cuban Air Force experienced in combat.
  Excerpts from radio communications between the MiG-29 and Havana 
military control detailed what transpired next.
  The MiG-29: Okay, the target is in sight; the target is in sight. 
It's a small aircraft. Copied, small aircraft in sight.
  We have it in sight.
  Target is in sight.
  Military Control: Go ahead.
  MiG-29: The target is in sight.
  Military Control: Aircraft in sight.
  MiG-29: Come again?
  It's a small aircraft.
  It's white. White.
  Military Control: Color and registration of the aircraft?
  MiG-29: Listen, the registration also?
  Military Control: What kind and color?
  MiG-29: It's white and blue.
  White and blue, at a low altitude, small aircraft.
  Give me instructions.
  Authorize me.
  If we pass it, it will complicate things. We're going to give it a 
pass because some vessels are approaching there. I'm going to give it a 
pass.
  Talk. Talk.
  I have it on lock-on. I have it on lock-on.
  I have it on lock-on. Give us authorization.
  It's a Cessna 337. Give us authorization, damn it.
  Military Control: Fire.
  MiG-29: Give us authorization. We have it.
  Military Control: Authorized to destroy.
  MiG-29: I'm going to pass it.
  Military Control: Authorized to destroy.
  MiG-29: We already copied. We already copied.
  Military Control: Authorized to destroy.
  MiG-29: Understood, already received. Leave us alone for now.
  Military Control: Don't lose it.
  MiG-29: First launch.
  We hit him. Damn, we hit him. We hit him. We retired him.
  Wait to see where it falls.
  Come on. Come on in. Come on in. Obscenities.
  Mark the place where we took it out.
  We are over it. This one won't mess around anymore.
  Military Control: Congratulations to the two of you.
  MiG-29: Mark the spot.
  We're climbing and returning home.
  Military Control: Stand by. Stand by there circling above.
  MiG-29: Over the target?
  Military Control: Correct.
  MiG-29: Obscenities. We did tell you, buddy.
  Military Control: Correct, the target is marked.
  MiG-29: Go ahead.
  Military Control: Okay, climb to 3,200, 4,000 meters above the 
destroyed target and maintain economical speed.
  MiG-29: Go ahead.
  Military Control: I need you to stand by. What heading did the launch 
have?
  MiG-29: I have another aircraft in sight.
  We have another aircraft in sight.
  Military Control: Follow it. Don't lose the other small aircraft.
  MiG-29: We have another aircraft in sight. It is in the area where 
the other one fell. It's in the area where it fell.
  We have the aircraft in sight.
  Military Control: Stand by.
  MiG-29: Comrade, it's in the area of the event.
  Did you copy?
  Okay, this one's heading 90 degrees now.
  It's in the area of the event, where the target fell. They are going 
to have to authorize us.
  Military Control: Correct, keep following the aircraft. You are going 
to have to stay above it.
  MiG-29: We're above it.
  Military Control: Correct.
  MiG-29: For what? Is the other authorized?
  Military Control: Correct.
  MiG-29: Great. Let's go, Alberto.
  Understood. Now we're going to destroy it.
  Military Control: Do you have it in sight?
  MiG-29: We have it. We have it. We're working. Let us work.
  The other one is destroyed. The other one is destroyed. Fatherland or 
death. Obscenities. The other one is destroyed. It's down also.
  The judge continues: The missiles disintegrated the Brothers to the 
Rescue planes, killing their occupants instantly and leaving almost no 
recoverable debris. Only a large oil slick marked the spots where the 
planes went down. The Cuban Air Force never notified or warned the 
civilian planes, never attempted other methods of interception, and 
never gave them the opportunity to land.

                              {time}  1945

  The MiG's first and only response was the intentional and malicious 
destruction of the Brothers to the Rescue planes and their 4 innocent 
occupants. Such behavior violated clearly established international 
norms requiring the exhaustion of all measures before resort to 
aggression against any aircraft and banning the use of force against 
civilian aircraft altogether.
  The international community, the judge writes, moved quickly to 
condemn the murders. The United Nations Security Council, the European 
Union, and the International Civil Aviation Organization were among the 
many to issue statements deploring the Cuban regime's unjustifiable use 
of force. The Congress characterized the shootdown as a blatant and 
barbaric violation of international law, tantamount to cold-blooded 
murder. Congress concluded, ``The Congress strongly condemns the act of 
terrorism by the Castro regime in shooting down the Brothers to the 
Rescue aircraft on February 24, 1996.''
  The court in its opinion rightly found both the Cuban Air Force and 
the Cuban government are liable for the murders of Alejandre, Costa, 
and De la Pena.
  The court writes, Cuba's extrajudicial killings of Mario De la Pena, 
Carlos Costa, and Armando Alejandre, and Pablo Morales, which is not 
part of this action.
  Cuba's extrajudicial killings of these innocent civilians violated 
clearly established principles of international law. More importantly, 
they were inhumane acts against innocent civilians. The fact that the 
killings were premeditated and intentional, outside of Cuban territory, 
wholly disproportionate and executed without warning or process, makes 
this act unique in its brazen flouting of international norms. There 
appears to be no precedent, writes Judge King, no precedent for a 
military aircraft intentionally shooting down unarmed civilian planes.

[[Page H552]]

  The only conceivable parallel may be the shootdown of KAL Flight 007 
by the former Soviet Union in 1983. That incident can be distinguished 
from this case, however, by two key facts. First, the Soviets were 
arguably under the impression that the KAL plane was a military 
aircraft. Second, the plane had strayed into Soviet airspace. Neither 
of these facts is true in this case. Yet despite the fact that the KAL 
plane was in Soviet airspace, a commentator studying the incident 
concluded that the lethal use of force was completely inappropriate.
  So I think it is important, Madam Speaker, to realize that there is 
no precedent for the terrorist action committed just 2 years ago today 
by the Castro regime killing 4 unarmed civilians over international 
waters. This kind of extrajudicial killing constituted an act of state 
terrorism, not state-sponsored terrorism but rather state-committed 
terrorism that must be, and I commend at this point Judge King and the 
court, the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida 
for this very erudite and responsible and obviously fair and humane 
final judgment.
  I think it is important that despite the great courage required to do 
so, out of a Cuban political prison there has been sent out, smuggled, 
if you will, surreptitiously sent, a statement by 8 political 
prisoners. They managed to get this statement out of the Ariza prison 
in Cienfuegos, Cuba just a few days ago with regard to this date. These 
prisoners, risking their lives in sending this statement out, wrote the 
following:
  ``The dictatorship has stained another date in the history of Cuba 
with blood, injustice and profound pain with the shootdown of the 
aircraft of Brothers to the Rescue in 1996, the second anniversary of 
which is commemorated on February 24.
  ``As will so many Cubans, we will never forget the victims of that 
day who because of the love of justice became doves of peace who 
offered their lives to try to bring freedom to their humiliated people.
  ``To those who did not take death seriously when the nation was 
discussed, because of their example, we are willing to equal their 
measure of devotion.
  ``In memory of those who fell in flights of peace, the political 
prisoners of Las Villas in Ariza, Cienfuegos, manifesting our 
repudiation of the massacre and our heartfelt condolences to their 
families, will be fasting and in prayer during the entire day of 
February 28, 1998.
  ``Decided for the nation.''
  Signed by Vladimiro Roca, Bernardo Arevalo, Augusto Cesar San Martin, 
Jorge Felix Canosa, Israel Hidalgo-Gato, Benito Pojaco, Jose Ramon 
Lopez and Pedro Genaro Barreras.
  This is an example of extreme courage and typical of the kinds of 
statements and actions that are being taken by the internal opposition 
within Cuba day in and day out, even in the midst and while they suffer 
as a consequence grave repression from the dictatorship.
  Madam Speaker, I try to utilize this position of great honor granted 
to me at 2-year intervals by the 600,000 residents of the 21st 
Congressional District of Florida to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues and the American people facts and realities that the 
majority of the communications media and the press often ignore. All 
too often the reality of Cuba, the reality facing the Cuban people fits 
into that category. To use the analogy of failing to see the forest 
while talking about trees, for one story by a journalist who sees the 
forest, we are forced to read 50 stories about trees, stories that are 
either completely one-sided, out of context or simply seem to be from 
another forest altogether. One of those few articles, one of those few 
examples by mass media that show that there are exceptions I read just 
yesterday in the Washington Times by a journalist named Tom Carter. Mr. 
Carter writes, in an article entitled Cuba's Forgotten Prisoners of 
Conscience:
  ``We knew Nelson Mandela's name long before he was released from the 
South African jail because reporters made his name known. All over the 
United States and Europe people prayed in synagogues and churches for 
the release of Natan Shcharansky and Andrei Sakaharov from Soviet 
imprisonment or exile.''
  Amnesty International lists 600 prisoners of conscience. Those are 
people who have been sentenced for alleged crimes by Castro's regime 
which are totally nonviolent, even pursuant to the accusation made by 
the dictatorship. Because there are hundreds, thousands of others who 
are charged with so-called common crimes even though they are political 
prisoners.
  ``Amnesty International nevertheless lists 600 prisoners of 
conscience currently rotting in the Cuban Gulag. Pope John Paul II gave 
the government a list of 200 names pleading for their release. Some 
were released in a government amnesty earlier this month. Nonetheless, 
the State Department's 1998 report on human rights lists Cuba as one of 
the world's most egregious violators of human rights.''
  ``Why then with some 3,000 American reporters credentialed to cover 
the Pope's visit to Cuba was there so little news from those opposed to 
Castro's Communist paradise?''
  ``One theory on the media's silence is that the Cuban regime has 
cowed the U.S. press in much the same way it has subdued much of its 11 
million people, with fear. For years, getting permission to report in 
Cuba has been coveted like a brass ring, visas awarded only to 
reporters deemed reliable by the Cuban government and some reporters 
hoping to make return trips purposely tailor their coverage so as to 
not offend anyone in government.''

  ``On my first visit to Cuba 6 years ago, a well respected reporter 
who is still reporting from Cuba schooled me on what the authorities 
would permit and what was out of bounds: It was permitted to interview 
government-approved dissidents, most notably Elizardo Sanchez, a former 
Marxist professor who has spent 8 years in jail. The head of the Cuban 
Commission for Human Rights and Reconciliation has suffered enormously 
and has jackboot prints on his front door to prove it, and reporters 
have beat a well worn path to his house. Perhaps coincidentally, Mr. 
Sanchez is by his own count one of the minority of opposition figures 
who, like the Cuban government, also opposes the U.S. embargo on 
Cuba.''
  ``Other opposition figures I asked about were considered sensitive 
and way off limits, only to be interviewed on the way to the airport 
and only if a return visa was unimportant.''
  ``Despite the so-called openness of the Cuban government for the 
Pope's visit, it refused visas to at least 60 reporters from the Miami 
Herald, the St. Petersburg Times and several European and Latin 
American newspapers. Many denied entry were old Cuba hands who had 
written unflattering reports about the deterioration of the revolution 
in recent years.''
  ``So many who received the coveted tickets to Havana were Cuban 
novices, first-time visitors to the island with no time to peer behind 
the public mask of the revolution. Others apparently in sync with the, 
quote, gains of the revolution, end quote, and opposed to the U.S. Cuba 
policy simply choose to ignore the other side of the story.''
  ``While I cannot comment on all of CNN's coverage, I did see 
Christiane Amanpour's 1-hour special on Cuba and the Pope that was 
aired on CNN's international channel.''
  ``Masquerading as news, it was little more than a song of praise to 
the revolution and a political commercial against the U.S. embargo. I 
kept waiting in vain for someone, anyone, to say something that didn't 
sound like it was straight out of the government newspaper Granma.''
  ``It is not as though opposition figures in Cuba are unknown. Two 
phone calls before I left the United States for Cuba got me 4 pages of 
names, addresses and phone numbers. Time prevented me from visiting 
more than one, Dr. Hilda Molina, who said American reporters rarely 
stop by.''
  ``Asked if my visit put her in danger, she was defiant. 'I don't care 
if you're State security, I'll say the same thing,' she said.''
  ``Before that kind of courage, I find it cowardly that some news 
organizations simply recycle regime propaganda as news.''
  Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, that is all too often the reality of 
news reporting with regard to Cuba. The reality of Cuba is ignored and 
very often if it is not ignored, it is part of disinformation and even 
misinformation.

[[Page H553]]

  I attempt to update, and I will use this opportunity to update my 
colleagues about recent arrests and acts of repression against 
dissidents and independent journalists in Cuba. I guess we could call 
it a plaque of human rights update on the situation there because I 
think that it is important as Mr. Carter writes, for human rights 
support groups and international organizations and parliaments 
throughout the world and especially in this greatest of all democratic 
parliaments in the world, for those brave human rights activists and 
freedom fighters to be mentioned, to be supported, to be given 
solidarity. It is very telling that despite the repression, despite the 
great obstacles faced by the internal opposition, that internal 
opposition is an ever growing, brave opposition movement within Cuba 
that is actively working to achieve a transition to democracy and 
freedom in that long-suffering island.
  I have before me just a very incomplete, I recognize, list of obvious 
and direct human rights violations, and I would like to read out the 
names of just a few of these incidents that have come to my attention 
in recent months, and most of them I have actual dates for.
  On July 23, Pascual Escalona, a well-known human rights activist, was 
charged with dangerousness and arrested.
  July 24, Aguilleo Cancio Chong, President of the Cuban National 
Alliance, was arrested by Cuban State Security and subjected to intense 
interrogation and threats.
  On July 24, Pascaul Escalona Naranjo was sentenced to one year's 
imprisonment on a charge of dangerousness. It is believed that the 
charge stems from his and his wife's advocacy of freedom of expression 
for Cuba through the Agencia de Prensa Independiente, the Cuban 
independent press agency.
  On July 25, Ramon Morejon Castillo's house was searched from 7 in the 
morning until 12 noon and he was later arrested. Morejon Castillo is 
not a member of any opposition group but was arrested 2 years ago under 
the charge of suspicion of sabotaging Cuban elections. He is still 
imprisoned in the Villa Marista state security center.
  On July 28, Raul Rivero, head of the Independent Press Group, Cuba 
Press, was detained.

                              {time}  2000

  He was detained again on August 12.
  On July 29 Luis Lopez Prendes, reporter with the Independent Press 
Bureau, was arrested after speaking with members of the New York based 
Committee to Protect Journalists.
  July 31 Rafael Fonseca, Yordys Garcia, Juan Rodiles, Carlos Herrera, 
Jackelin Caballero and Dr. Walter Estrada, members of the Cuban 
Democratic Youth Movement, all from Guantanamo, were warned by State 
security not to show themselves in public while delegates of the XIV 
World Youth and Students Festival were visiting Guantanamo. In spite of 
this, a peaceful rally demanding the release of Nestor Rodriguez 
Lobaina was held and broken up by State security.
  Also in July 1997, date unknown Reinaldo Soto from the Cuba Press was 
sentenced to 5 years in a maximum security prison. He was found guilty 
of distributing enemy propaganda to foreign states.
  Also July 1997, date unknown, Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez, vice 
president of Youth for Democracy, was convicted of contempt for the 
authority of the Santiago courts, based on his testimony given at the 
hearing of Garcia de la Vega, another member of Youth for Democracy.
  July 1997, date unknown, Lorenzo Paez Nunez, a journalist with the 
Habana Press Agency, was sentenced to 18 months for, ``contempt and 
defamation of national policy,'' based on allegations that he reported 
on police abuses.
  August 2, Juan Carlos Herrera was arrested and kept in isolation for 
2 days for attempting to contact foreign delegates at Cuba's youth 
festival who were in Guantanamo at the time. He was told by Manuel 
Ceballos, who was in charge of interrogation, that he would be charged 
with disorderly conduct and enemy propaganda because he had a copy of 
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights when he was arrested. He was 
released when the delegates left Guantanamo.
  August 2, Mauri Chaviano Mesa, executive with the Cuban National 
Alliance, was arrested in Santa Clara and submitted to interrogations, 
harassment and threats by State security.
  August 12, Raul Rivero, President of the Cuba Press was detained by 
Cuban officials. The agents confiscated materials from his domicile, 
and after hours of detention he was released.
  August 14 Raul Rivero, was again detained on charges of possessing 
enemy propaganda. His house was searched without warrant.
  August 15, David Norman Dorm, Director of International Affairs for 
the American Federation of Teachers here in the United States, visiting 
Cuba, was deported allegedly for contacting the internal opposition on 
behalf of the Freedom House Cuban Rights organization here in the 
United States.
  August 15 Maritza Lugo Fernandez, vice president of the Thirtieth of 
November Party, was arrested for informing foreigners about human 
rights abuses in Cuba. She started a hunger strike when informed that 
she would be tried by a military court.
  August 19, State security agent known as Pepin and other agents in an 
act of continuing psychological torture, went to the home of Professor 
Reinaldo Cosano Allen and told him to gather his belongings because he 
was being arrested.
  August 20, Zohiris Aguilar, activist and president of the Popular 
Democratic Alliance, ADEPO, was detained by Cuban State police without 
being given cause. Her husband Leonel Morejon Almagro, lawyer and 
founder of Concilio Cubano, well known human rights umbrella group, was 
also questioned by police. Police threatened to take away their child 
to be raised by the State unless they ceased their activities 
advocating free and fair elections.
  August 20, Nery Gorotiza Campoalegre, executive of the Cuban National 
Alliance, was detained by State Security Agent Pepin, interrogated and 
threatened for 24 hours.
  August 20, opposition activist Sergio Quiro, secretary for Leonel 
Morejon Almagro, was arrested. While being interrogated and threatened, 
State security agents played audio tapes with phone conversations 
opposition members had had with international human rights support 
groups.
  August 21, Roberto Gonzalez Tibanear, who had been deported from 
Sweden to Cuba early in 1997, was arrested. His defense lawyer was 
given 48 hours to prepare his case. The charges against him were 
instigation and contempt.
  August 21, Vicente Escobar Barreiro, director of the Cuban Unionism 
Studies Institute and a leader of the Cuban Workers Council, an 
independent union, was called in for questioning by the Singular 
Vigilance System. The Singular Vigilance System is one of the many 
repressive organs of the Cuban dictatorship.
  August 23, Odilia Collazo, while traveling in a car with her husband, 
was rammed by a government-owned bus and received severe life-
threatening injuries. In addition to being President of the Cuban Pro 
Human Rights Party, Collazo had just assumed the Presidency of the 
Dissidents Task Force Support Committee after the task force members, 
well known dissidents, Vladimiro Roca, Felix Bonne Carcasses, Dr. Rene 
Gomez Manzano and economist Marta Beatriz Roque, were incarcerated the 
previous month.
  Throughout the month of August 1997, Jesus Chamber Ramirez, sentenced 
to 10 years in prison for enemy propaganda and disrespect against 
government authority, was regularly denied family visits because he 
insisted on being treated as a political prisoner rather than as a 
common prisoner. He was tried and sentenced to an additional 4 years 
for demanding better conditions with yet another trial still pending.
  August 1997, date unknown, Luis Mario Pared Estrada, a leader of the 
Thirtieth November Party, Frank Pais, was convicted of dangerousness 
and sentenced to one year in prison.
  September 8, three leaders of the Democratic Federation of Workers in 
Cuba, Ana Maria Ortega Gimenez, Nacional Coordinator; Gustavo Toirac 
Gonzalez, Secretary General; and Ramon Gonzalez Fonseca, Secretary of 
Transportation were arrested. Jose Orlando Gonzalez Brindon, President 
of

[[Page H554]]

the organization was placed under house arrest.
  September 9, Cuban State police arrested the President of the 
Democratic Solidarity Party, Hector Palacio Ruiz, for commenting on 
Castro's lack of mental stability in an interview with a German 
journalist. We certainly could do an entire special order on Castro's 
lack of mental stability.
  September 10, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez, Nestor Rodriguez 
Lobaina, and Francisco Herodes Diaz Echemendia were beaten by over 30 
guards in the prison where they were being kept and still are today on 
charges of enemy propaganda, attempted sabotage and acts against State 
security.
  September 10, Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon, a citizen of El Salvador, was 
arrested and charged with being a material author of seven hotel 
bombings in Cuba.
  September 13, Lazaro Fernandez Valdez and Rodolfo Valdez Perez were 
detained at their homes after attending a mass given by Cardinal Jaime 
Ortega. They had shouted, Long live Cardinal Ortega.
  September 15, Cecilio Monteagudo Sanchez, member of the Democratic 
Solidarity Party, was charged with enemy propaganda and detained. He 
allegedly distributed a flyer encouraging people to boycott voting in 
the one-party election run by the regime.
  September 16, U.S. citizen Walter Van de Veer, who had been arrested 
in Cuba in August of 1996, was tried as a high risk mercenary, and on 
that date was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
  September 23 Alexander Hernandez Lago, reportedly a contributor to 
Vitral, an officially sanctioned religious magazine, was beaten in his 
home by police for allegedly failing to pay a utility bill of 41 pesos. 
Lago then protested by wearing a placard in public stating we are fed 
up with so much arbitrariness and injustice, Human Rights, Article 19, 
Respect Them, for which he was arrested.
  September 24, Cecilio Ruiz Rivero, member of the Association for 
Struggle Against Injustice, was arrested and charged with disrespect, 
assault and resistance.
  September 24, Efrain Rodriguez Santos, member of the Club Pueblos 
Cautivos de Cuba, Captive Towns of Cuba Club, because there are entire 
towns in Cuba that are in effect prisons, and that is a subject that we 
will have to treat in detail at some point. Efrain Rodriguez Santos, 
member of the Captive Towns of Cuba Club was sentenced to 18 months 
imprisonment on charges of disrespect of Fidel Castro. He allegedly 
shouted from his home's balcony, Down with Fidel Castro.
  September 27 Maritza Lugo Fernandez, was convicted of bribery for 
allegedly attempting to convince a prison guard to give prisoners 
belonging to the Thirtieth of November Party a tape recorder.
  October 23, 11 members of the Pro Human Rights Party of Cuba, PPDH, 
were convicted of associating to commit criminal acts and disobedience 
after conducting a hunger strike to protest the government's detention 
of another PPDH member, Daula Carpio Mata. Sentences ranged from 1 year 
of house arrest, Maria Felicia Machad, to 1\1/2\ years in prison camp 
for Jose Antonio Alvarado Almeida, Ileana Penalver Duque, Roxana Alina 
Carpio Mata, Lilian Meneses Martinez, Arelis Fleites Mendez, Marlis 
Velazquez Aparicio, Ivan Lema Romero, Danilo Santos Mendez, Vicente 
Garcia Ramos, and Jose Manuel Yera Meneses.
  October 29 Luis Lopez Prendes, with the Bureau of Independent 
Journalists, was severely beaten for speaking to Radio Marti by phone.
  October 29, Daula Carpio Matas of the Pro Human Rights Party, PPDH, 
was sentenced to 16 months in the prison work camp for her outspoken 
criticism of an earlier trial. She was initially arrested on charges 
that she verbally criticized a prison doctor at the trial of a fellow 
PPDH member.
  November 11, Orestes Rodriguez Urrutinier, acting President of the 
Followers of Chibas Movement, Movimiento Seguidores de Chibas, was 
brought to trial on charges of enemy propaganda and sentenced to 4 
years imprisonment.
  November 18, Dr. Desi Mendoza Rivero, this is amazing, President of 
the Santiago de Cuba Independent Medical Association, was sentenced to 
8 years imprisonment for, quote, ``using the mass media to spread enemy 
propaganda,'' end quote. Rivero accused the regime on Radio Marti of 
covering up the extent of danger, he is a physician speaking, of 
covering up the extent of danger to the public during an epidemic of 
dengue fever and of not taking sufficient measures to control the 
epidemic.
  November 28, Bernardo Arevalo Padron, director of the Independent 
Press Agency Linea Sur Press, was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for 
enemy propaganda.
  December 17, Ileana Penalver Duque, was sentenced to 18 months 
correctional work without internment, ordered to report to work despite 
physical illnesses from which she is still suffering, including memory 
and vision disturbances and loss of feeling in her legs, ordered to 
report to work.
  January 9, Jose Angel Pena, president of the Pro Human Rights Party 
Chico Oriental, was detained for visiting activist, Silvano Duarto.
  January 15, Frank Fernandez Lobaina, president of the union, the 
National Union of Opposition Members, UNO, was arrested for signing The 
Agreement for Democracy, which is an incredible document that the 
opposition has come together and not only drafted, but agreed to the 
opposition in Cuba and outside of Cuba. He spoke on its behalf on 
January 14 publicly, and he was arrested the next day, January 15.
  January 1998, date unknown, numerous people were arrested at papal 
services during the Pope's visit, the 4-day trip, which was a marvelous 
visit where the Cuban people had a ray of hope for 4 days with the 
visit of that incredible, not only one of the greatest figures of this 
century, but of the millenium and leader of the Catholic Church, John 
Paul, II. Numerous people were arrested at the papal services for 
speaking to foreign journalists or holding up pro democracy signs or 
other activities that bothered the dictatorship.
  I personally witnessed two young women who were filmed by Univision 
and CBS tele noticias, and none of our networks here in the English 
language or especially CNN, I did not see any of those networks show 
that film that they had access to because I saw it on Univision and 
tele noticias, two young women being dragged away for holding up a sign 
that said, Down with the dictatorship of the Castro brother. That is 
during the papal masses.
  February 17, dictatorship prosecutors requested a 15-year sentence in 
prison for the vice president of the Association for Struggle Against 
National Injustice Reynaldo Alfaro Garcia. His crime, speaking out for 
the release of political prisoners.
  February 18, the regime announced that Benito Fojaco, Israel Garcia, 
Jose R. Lopez, Angel Gonzalez and Reynaldo Sardinas will be tried for 
acts against the security of the State.
  February 22, Castro's joke of a Foreign Minister fellow named Roberto 
Robaina, warned that the release of a few dozen prisoners that the 
regime has recently announced as a gesture to Pope John Paul does not 
mean that those dissidents can engage in antigovernment activities when 
they are out of prison.
  February 1998 Jose Miranda Acosta, considered a prisoner of 
conscience by Amnesty International, was previously sentenced to 15 
years in prison even though a Mexican national who was charged along 
with him served 9 months before being released. Numerous human rights 
advocacy groups have called for his immediate release because of his 
extremely delicate health condition. The regime is denying him medical 
treatment as a form of torture. Jose Miranda Acosta was included in the 
list of prisoners that the Catholic Church gave to the regime for 
release, but Castro has refused to release him as he has refused to 
release countless others.
  The denial of medical care by the dictatorship to political opponents 
as a form of torture is widespread. Yesterday, I called for the 
resignation of Cesar Gaviria, a secretary general of the Organization 
of American States, for his systematic ignoring of multiple requests 
made by Sebastian Arcos for condemnation by the Human Rights Commission 
of the OAS of that practice by the regime, denying of medical care as a 
form of torture for political prisoners.

[[Page H555]]

                              {time}  2015

  One of the most well-known dissidents in Cuba, he died last December 
here in exile after he had received cancer while in prison and being 
denied medical treatment for years. That, in addition to the highest 
incidence of cancer in the Cuban prisons, in the entire world, and many 
reports point out that that is too much of a coincidence, is one of the 
realities that not only has to be analyzed but definitely is going to 
be made known in all its magnitude when Cuba is freed and the files are 
opened with regard to inconceivable techniques of torture, like the 
ones that are used on a daily basis by the regime.
  But the reality of the matter is that, despite those techniques of 
torture and the repression, the internal opposition is working harder 
than ever.
  Just before coming to the floor this evening, I received 
notification, I had been told that numerous internal opposition groups 
within Cuba were planning to attend a mass this evening around 6 
o'clock commemorating the 24th of February, the massacre of the four 
Brothers to the Rescue, their murder 2 years ago.
  Well, about 20 of them made it to the church in Havana. Over 20 of 
them apparently made it to the church. When they left the church after 
the mass, just about a little over an hour ago, they started walking 
toward the waterfront. They were met by 80 state security gestapo 
types, and apparently they have been arrested.
  What they wanted me to know and to say was that it does not matter if 
they are arrested, it does not matter how many of them are thrown in 
the dungeon, they will continue fighting peacefully until freedom and 
democracy are restored to Cuba. And they wanted me to make a point of 
the fact that it does not matter how many of them are thrown in the 
dungeon, the fight will continue, and that every day there are more and 
more members of the internal opposition and members of the pro-
democracy movement in Cuba.
  The fact that the Cuban people's hands are tied at this point and 
that they are unarmed does not mean that they will not triumph. It does 
not mean that they will not continue fighting until freedom is 
achieved.
  I mentioned briefly that the world had witnessed those great days of 
hope in January, the four days of hope with Pope John Paul's visit to 
Cuba just a few weeks ago.
  Even before John Paul had completed his visit to Cuba, TV anchormen 
and analysts and editorial writers were at work interpreting the 
message, the intention, the agenda behind his words. What exactly did 
the Pope say in Cuba?
  I want to point to a marvelous analysis done by the Center for a Free 
Cuba, run by Mr. Frank Calzon here in Washington, a tremendous human 
rights activist.
  In the analysis that the Center for a Free Cuba made public, ``The 
Pope said his journey was `a pastoral visit,' `an apostolic trip,' 
though, judging by some media reports, the lifting of the Washington 
trade sanctions against Havana was the most important issue of the 
visit. And yet, a word search of the 21,094 words pronounced by Pope 
John Paul II in 14 speeches and homilies while in Cuba indicates the 
following:
  The Pope used the word ``truth'' 74 times; ``freedom'' 53 times; 
``family'' 42 times; ``justice,'' 31 times; ``moral values'' 32 times; 
``solidarity'' 16 times; ``education'' 11 times; ``civil society'' 9 
times; ``do not be afraid'' 5 times.
  I am sure those words to the Cuban people, ``do not be afraid,'' are 
having a tremendous impact and will have every day even a greater 
impact.
  The Pope mentioned ``Our Lady of Charity,'' Cuba's patroness, 13 
times; ``Jesus and God'' 129 times. He used the word ``prisoner'' 3 
times, referred to Cuban exiles around the world 4 times; and he 
mentioned the embargo once, before getting on the plane to leave Cuba. 
And he did not mention the United States by name at all.
  I want to commend Frank Calzon and the Center for a Free Cuba, 
because this analysis shows us the kind of campaign that we are facing 
by the majority of the media and the means of communication day in and 
day out, where they have their agenda. And none of those arrests, human 
rights violations and abuses that I mentioned did I see reported in the 
mainstream media in the United States or the international media, 
newspapers, that I had a chance to read.
  You hear about the couple dozen prisoners that Castro releases as a 
gesture to the Pope. Most of them had served time as common criminals, 
not political prisoners, or who had already finished their terms, their 
sentences, in prison.
  You read about the couple dozen being released, but you do not read 
about the hundreds and thousands when they are arrested. I think that 
Mr. Carter of the Washington Times pointed out to a certain extent why 
that is the case.
  With regard to that so-called humanitarian gesture of the regime, of 
the couple of dozen people who were released from prison in the last 
few days, it is very important to point out the statement also made at 
the cost of great risk and demonstrating great courage by one of the 
leading opposition leaders within Cuba, Oswaldo Paya of the Christian 
Liberation Movement.
  Mr. Paya states the release from prison of a few dozen prisoners 
cannot be seen as a sign of political opening. ``We cannot say this is 
an opening, when many remain in prison for their beliefs and when some 
are still waiting to be tried for political reasons.''
  Even if you do not want to believe the opposition and the dissidents, 
read what Castro himself or his pathetic foreign minister says:
  ``The pardon was not made with the intention of stimulating 
activities of internal dissent,'' Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina said 
Sunday. ``He who returns to the street has the space we all have in the 
street.''
  I do not think they have the space he has with his yachts. I have 
seen a photograph of him in a big capitalist yacht and having access to 
la dolce vita and, like Forbes Magazine says, Castro having over $1.5 
billion in Swiss bank accounts. That is not the space he is referring 
to when he says, ``He who returns to the street has the space that we 
all have in the street. Not a space to bend over for those who, from 
abroad, want to destroy the country.''
  No, no, no. I do not think he means everybody is going to have the 
kind of life he has, with his yachts and the hundreds of millions of 
dollars that Castro has in Swiss foreign accounts.
  What they are talking about is that this is not, as has been stated, 
this is not a political opening. What this is is simply a token 
gesture, so that the world, that wants to find reasons and pretexts to 
justify the actions of Castro, will find another pretext for doing so.
  The reality of Cuba is that there are thousands imprisoned. The 
reality of Cuba, and I commend to the viewers ``The Politics of 
Psychiatry in Revolutionary Cuba,'' I recommend it to the viewers, this 
is put out by Freedom House here in Washington, and it details example 
after example after example of the use of psychiatry, electroshock 
torture and psychotropic drugs against political prisoners and 
dissidents by the Cuban regime.

  That is the reality of Cuba today, and anyone who wants to find out 
the reality of Cuba today should read books like this and, really, 
actually listen to the words of the dictator, listen to what happens 
when people want to commemorate in a mass the massacre of simply two 
years ago, just two years ago, against four Brothers to the Rescue who 
were shot and killed over the straits, over international waters, and 
the people who wanted to peacefully dedicate a mass in their memory are 
met by 80 gestapo thugs and thrown in prison. That is the reality of 
Cuba today.
  The reality of Cuba today is, and I also recommend this report just 
released by Dr. Juan Clark, a Ph.D. in South Florida, Miami Dade 
Community College, ``Religious Oppression in Cuba.'' He goes in detail 
about what happens day in and day out to believers in Cuba, simply for 
peacefully trying to exercise the right of free worship. That is the 
reality of Cuba today.
  Also though the reality of Cuba today is the fact that the internal 
opposition is more active than ever; that those words that the Pope 
said do not fear, do not fear, do not be afraid, are having a great 
effect, like they did in Poland and like they did everywhere that the 
Pope has visited, and the Cuban people are living in the tradition

[[Page H556]]

that they have demonstrated throughout their history, including the 
entire 19th century, and if they will put an end to this barbaric 
regime, despite the fact that it has been in existence 39 years, it 
will come to an end and it will come to an end soon, because the Cuban 
people are going to see to it.
  The reality of Cuba today is more than 70 opposition movements have 
already signed onto this extraordinary agreement called Agreement for 
Democracy, and many of the opposition movements in exile as well have 
signed on. I will not read it all, but I think it is a fundamental 
document to see where the Cuban people are going, where they wish to go 
and what they think, and to break through the disinformation and the 
misinformation and the lack of information that is provided or not 
provided by the international media.
  This Agreement for Democracy states as follows. As I say, it has 
already been signed on to by more than 70 opposition groups, most 
within Cuba.
  ``We recognize as the fundamental principle of the new republic that 
Cuba has wanted independence whose sovereignty resides from the people 
and functions through the effective exercise of representative 
multiparty democracy, which is the government of the majority with 
absolute respect for the minority. All governments must respect the 
sovereignty of the people. Therefore, at the end of the current 
tyrannical regime, the provisional or transition government shall be 
obliged to return sovereignty to the people by way of the following 
measures.''
  Then they list 10 specific measures through which sovereignty after 
the end of the Castro nightmare will be returned to the Cuban people, 
obviously in the holding of free and fair elections. Free and fair 
elections is the essence, and free and fair elections is the essence of 
what we seek in our policy in the United States for the Cuban people.
  That is the purpose of our policy. That is why we deny access to the 
U.S. market to those who profit from the lack of freedom of the Cuban 
people. That is why we have an embargo against Castro.
  We have an embargo on credits, on financing, on profits from the 
apartheid economy that Castro imposes on the people. We have an embargo 
on massive U.S. tourism to Cuba. We do not have an embargo on medicine. 
It is important that I repeat that, because there is so much 
disinformation and so much misinformation on this. We do not have an 
embargo on the sale of medicine. We do not have an embargo on the 
shipment of humanitarian aid to Cuba. More humanitarian aid is sent 
from the American people each year to the Cuban people than from all 
the other countries in the world combined.

                              {time}  2030

  $2.4 billion in humanitarian aid has been sent. That is not including 
the cash remittances that the Cuban people send to their family members 
on the island each year, not including the cash amounts of hundreds of 
millions per year, such as $2.4 million in humanitarian aid has been 
sent from the American people to the Cuban people in the last 5 years 
alone. That is more again than from all the other countries in the 
world combined.
  And what we are saying with our policy is that yes, we will deny 
credits and we will deny financing and we will deny profits from those 
who want to invest in the lack of labor rights, in human rights in 
Cuba, until and unless there is a democratic opening, a transition to 
democracy in Cuba.
  The only instrument that exists for the Cuban people to be taken into 
account when Castro dies, and he cannot last much longer, you have to 
look at him, they shot him up with cortisone for the Pope's trip. It 
will be a while, a year, 2 years, and thank God he is not immortal, he 
is going to die.
  What instrument do the Cuban people have at that moment so that those 
in a situation of provisionality will take them into account and will 
agree to return sovereignty to the Cuban people, to have elections, the 
only instrument that exists is the U.S. embargo.
  Those who find themselves in a situation of provisional power are 
going to want to lift the U.S. embargo, and we are going to say, 
``Fine, we want to lift the U.S. embargo. The only thing we ask is that 
you, those who find themselves in a situation of provisional power when 
Castro dies, is that you hold elections. That is the only thing we are 
asking for.
  Just like in 1898 the only country that stood by the Cuban people and 
said they deserve to be free was the United States of America. In 1998 
we are the people, we are the Nation, who wants the Cuban people to be 
free, and who say, we will not permit access to the U.S. market until 
the Cuban people are allowed free and fair elections. The Cuban people 
will not continue to be the only people in this hemisphere to be denied 
free elections, to be condemned to live under tyranny. We do not accept 
that, and the Cuban people do not accept that. They deserve to live in 
freedom.
  We will hold out and we will deny our market and we will maintain our 
embargo until three key conditions are met: Political legalization, all 
political parties have to be legalized; all political prisoners have to 
be freed; and there has to be a willingness to hold free and fair 
elections.
  They are three very simple conditions, but they are conditions that 
are not going to waived. We will insist on political legalization, we 
will insist on freedom for all political prisoners, and we will insist 
on free elections. That is our commitment. That is the commitment of 
this Congress. That is why we obtained 80 percent of the votes, both in 
the Senate and in the House, for our sanctions legislation in 1996, and 
we are going to maintain that policy until there is a democratic 
transition.
  So I end my remarks remembering the four martyrs from Brothers to the 
Rescue, remembering all the political prisoners, in solidarity with 
them, remembering as well the martyrs of the 13th of July of 1994, the 
over 40 men women and children who were murdered by the tyrant just a 
few years ago while trying to seek freedom, including more than 20 
children.
  In memory of them, on this historic date, I end my remarks and I 
guarantee that this Congress and the American people will stand with 
the Cuban people until they are free.

                          ____________________