[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 122 (Tuesday, September 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H7696]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               CUBAN TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICA CONTINUES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning first of all to 
commend the FBI. They yesterday carried out a very important operation 
in furtherance of United States national security, along with, 
obviously, other law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Attorney for the 
Southern District of Florida.
  The United States is indeed blessed to have agencies such as the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation and our other law enforcement agencies, 
as well as the intelligence community generally, that works day in and 
day out to protect the national security of the American people.
  Yesterday, the arrests that were made, ten in all, were of spies for 
the Cuban dictatorship, agents of the Cuban dictatorship engaged in 
activities, in espionage activities, to infiltrate U.S. centers of 
military, political, economic and academic power, as well as means of 
communication. That is the mission of the state security intelligence 
services of the Cuban dictatorship.
  So when we see an action such as the one carried out yesterday by the 
FBI, all of the American people have to feel pleased, supported and 
protected, and in exchange I think it is the duty of all Americans to 
support the FBI, to commend the FBI and our other law enforcement 
agencies.
  I think yesterday's arrests of Cuban spies in the United States 
underlines the true nature of the terrorist state in Havana. These 
arrests by U.S. authorities of numerous Cuban intelligence agents, I am 
sure, will serve to remind the American people of the genuine nature 
and continued threat posed by the Cuban totalitarian regime, just 90 
miles from the shores of the United States.
  Despite what is evident on behalf of the majority of the media and 
the means of communication is a total ignoring of the reality of Cuba. 
Just the night before, how ironic, CNN, that television network that 
has sometimes been referred to as the ``Castro News Network'' because 
of its fetish for seeking to make Castro at all costs look good, and I 
know that is something that is impossible, but it is continuously 
attempted to be done by CNN. CNN had provided one hour of prime time to 
the Cuban tyrant, one hour of prime time, with the main objective of 
giving him an opportunity to whitewash and somehow project that he did 
not in fact in writing call for a nuclear first strike upon the United 
States of America during the missile crisis in 1962.
  Castro, some of you may have seen the interview, pulled out these 
books of reports and tried to somehow say, obviously with no follow-up, 
absolutely no follow-up questioning by the CNN reporter, that no, he 
did not really mean to say that the Soviet Union should launch a 
nuclear first strike.
  Well, how ironic, that just the next day, and a generation later, it 
is that same regime led by that tyrant that has spies in the United 
States that were arrested for precisely caring out activities against 
U.S. military and political centers of power.
  So I commend the FBI. There is so much more that has to be done. 
There is an indictment that is prepared, it is ready, it was prepared 
by the U.S. Attorney in South Florida, against the Cuban regime. This 
was leaked out of frustration, by the way, by the U.S. Attorney to the 
press, when evidently from Washington the order came down that the 
indictment was not to be issued.
  Prosecutors have an indictment ready charging the Cuban government as 
a racketeering enterprise for a 10 year conspiracy to send tons of 
Colombian cartel cocaine through Cuba to the United States. This 
indictment is ready. The evidence is available. It is overwhelming. The 
Clinton Administration has in fact ordered this indictment to be placed 
in a drawer and hidden. Because of the frustration, it was leaked to 
the media.
  I have not even had time to address the dangers this morning to our 
national security from the nuclear power plants that Castro is 
building, but, Mr. Speaker, in coming days I will address on this floor 
those threats.

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