[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 96 (Friday, July 17, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1335]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ARREST OF FOUR FROM CUBAN DOMESTIC DISSIDENCE 
                             WORKING GROUP

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 16, 1998

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, one year ago today, on July 16, 1997, Rene 
Gomez Manzano, Marta Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne Carcases, and Vladimiro 
Roca of the Domestic Dissidence Working Group were arrested in Cuba. 
These four brave dissidents authored a document titled ``The Nation 
Belongs to Everyone,'' which offered their views on the social and 
economic situation in the country and on a peaceful transition of 
democracy. The document was issued as a response to the official 
declaration of the 5th Cuban Communist Party Congress.
  The Castro Regime has not even had the courage to publicly charge 
these four prisoners of conscience, although Amnesty International 
believes they have been secretly charged with disseminating ``enemy 
propaganda.''
  Last January, a Congressional Staff Delegation brought back a 
photograph of a courageous soul at Pope John Paul's Mass in Havana 
holding a sign aloft bearing the words ``The Nation Belongs to 
Everyone.'' these four brave dissidents have not been forgotten in 
Cuba. It is our duty to remember them here. The Clinton Administration 
has made a number of unilateral concessions to the Castro regime in 
recent months. President Clinton should have eschewed this empty 
rhetoric and these unrequited concessions and instead demanded the 
release of these political prisoners.
  The Miami Herald reported today that imprisoned dissident Vladimiro 
Roca in an open letter to the foreign press and diplomatic corps, asked 
Wednesday for a ``fair and public trial'' for himself and the three 
other dissident leaders. He said ``We wish to draw public attention to 
our situation and to demand a fair and public trial, in the presence of 
the foreign press and any diplomats accredited in Cuba who may wish to 
attend, in proceedings both transparent and aboveboard.''
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that our European and Canadian and Latin 
American friends and allies have a special responsibility to act to 
secure the release of these four dissidents. Shortly before they were 
arrested, the dissidents held a briefing for foreign diplomats.
  Two of the dissidents, Marta Beatriz Roque and Feli Bonne, described 
in a recorded July 7 conversation just days before they were arrested 
how only the United States Interests Section attended their briefing. 
Asked why other countries' embassies failed to attend, Roque replied: 
``Well, we think because of pressures.'' Felix Bonne added ``We're hurt 
by the countries that did not attend . . . We're grateful to [U.S. 
Principal Officer Michael] Kozak and U.S. Human Rights Officer[ Tim 
Brown.''
  On August 12th, 1997, Armando Correa reported in The Miami Herald 19 
years old Idiana Durate's experience sharing a small, unventilated cell 
with Marta Beatriz Roque and three prostitutes.
  Duarte said that she and her companions tried to keep the cell clean 
even though they were given water only twice a week. She was quoted as 
tearfully recalling: ``We had to use something that wasn't even a 
bathroom, with no privacy and with overwhelming human waste. At one 
point I became desperate in the terrible heat and I was only able to 
find refuge in Marta Beatriz.''
  Duarte said ``In that cell, next to Marta Beatriz [Roque] I learned 
what it's like to be a dissident, what it's like for a woman who has to 
struggle for her ideals.'' Roque, 52, was like a mother to her, Duarte 
said. ``She told me: `Be strong; don't pay attention to these 
torturers.''
  Roque's behavior during questioning by Interior Ministry officials 
impressed Duarte. ``Every time my turn came up, I suffered,'' Duarte 
said. ``But Marta talked back to them, raked them over with a courage 
I've never seen in a woman.''
  Shortly before being released, Duarte learned that Cuban government 
prosecutors had asked for 20 years' imprisonment for Roque. ``They want 
to frighten me,'' Duarte quoted Roque as saying. ``But if I have to 
serve them I will, because I'm fighting for a just cause.''
  Marta Beatriz Roque and Vladimiro Roca have suffered serious health 
problems during their imprisonment. Marta Beatriz Roque has now 
reportedly been moved to a cell with hardened, violent criminals and is 
subjected to constant threats.
  Accordingly, I invite our colleagues to join in an appeal to the 
Cuban Government to release these four dissidents.

                          ____________________