[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 2, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CONDEMNING THE CUBAN DICTATORSHIP'S CRACKDOWN ON THE INTERNAL 
                               OPPOSITION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, in recent weeks the Cuban dictatorship 
has carried out a brutal crackdown of the brave internal opposition and 
independent press, taking Cuba's four best known internal opponents, 
Felix Bonne Carcasses, Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, Vladimiro Roca 
Antunez, and Rene Gomez Manzano, to trial on trumped-up charges, and 
arresting scores of other peaceful opponents without cause or 
justification.
  The internal opposition in Cuba is working intensely and valiantly to 
draw international attention to Cuba's deplorable human rights 
situation, and continues to strengthen and grow, despite the Stalinist 
repression, in its opposition to the Castro dictatorship.
  At this time of extraordinary repression, the internal opposition 
requires and deserves the firm and unwavering support and solidarity of 
the international community. The Cuban dictatorships repressive 
crackdown against the brave internal opposition and the independent 
press must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

                              {time}  1515

  The internal opposition and independent press of Cuba have our 
profound admiration and firm solidarity.
  We must demand of the Cuban dictatorship the release of all political 
prisoners, the legalization of all political parties, labor unions and 
the press, and the scheduling of free and fair internationally 
supervised elections.
  Mr. Speaker, I call on the government of Spain, of Prime Minister 
Aznar, to cancel the announced trip to Castro's Cuba of the King of 
Spain; and I call upon the member states of the Ibero-American summit 
to boycott the upcoming meeting that has been, incredibly, scheduled 
for November in the capital of the Cuban dictatorship.
  Martin Luther King rightfully declared that an injustice anywhere is 
an affront to injustice everywhere. Going to Cuba to shake the Cuban 
tyrant's hand would be an ultimately immoral act. Now, more than ever, 
it is incumbent upon the entire international community to demonstrate 
firm solidarity with the oppressed people of Cuba and with the brave 
internal opposition.
  According to press reports from Cuba, the following dissidents and 
journalists have been arrested by the Cuban dictatorship in the last 
few days:
  Efren Martinez Pulgaron, Ana Maria Ortega Jimenez, Marisela Pompa, 
Angel Polanco, Odilia Collazo, Arnaldo Ramos, Lazaro Rodriguez, Jose 
Orlando Gonzalez Bridon, Lazaro Cala, Felix Perera, Oswaldo Paya 
Sardinas, Ofelia Nardo Cruz, Regis Iglesias, Angel Moya Acosta, Miriam 
Cantillo, Benigno Torralba, Ramon Alfonso William, Gisela Concepcion 
Bolanos, Marvin Hernandez Monzon, Jesus David Martinez Garcia, Julian 
Martinez Baez, Juan Francisco Monzon Oviedo, Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, 
Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, Felix Navarro Rodriguez, Pedro H. Rojas, 
Leonel Morejon Almagro, Reinaldo Cosano Allen, Jesus Llanes Pelletier, 
Maria Menendez Villar, Oscar Elias Biscet, Rolando Munoz Yyobre, Miriam 
Cantillo, Omar Rodriguez Saludos, Diosdado Gonzalez Marrero, Ileana 
Somiellan Fleitas, Nanci Sotolongo, Odalys Curbelo, Juan Antonio 
Sanchez, Hector Cruz, Israel Bayon, Raul Rivero and Orlando Bordon.
  There are certainly many others who have been arrested but who we 
have not been able to find out about as of yet.
  Mr. Speaker, our admiration, our support, and our prayers go out to 
all of these brave Cuban patriots and to all of the suffering and 
oppressed Cuban people.

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