[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 23, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H1525-H1531]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING HUMAN RIGHTS IN CUBA

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree 
to the resolution (H. Res. 99) expressing the sense of the House of 
Representatives regarding the human rights situation in Cuba, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H. Res. 99

       Whereas the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 
     Geneva, Switzerland, is an international mechanism to express 
     support for the protection and defense of the inherent 
     natural rights of humankind and a forum for discussing the 
     human rights situation throughout the world and condemning 
     abuses and gross violations of these liberties;
       Whereas the actions taken by the United Nations Commission 
     on Human Rights establish precedents for further courses of 
     action and send messages to the international community that 
     the protection and promotion of human rights is a priority;
       Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which 
     guides global human rights policy asserts that all human 
     beings are born free and live in dignity with rights;
       Whereas international human rights organizations, the 
     Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the Department 
     of State all concur that the Government of Cuba continues to 
     systematically violate the fundamental civil and political 
     rights of its citizens;
       Whereas it is carefully documented that the Government of 
     Cuba propagates and encourages the routine harassment, 
     intimidation, arbitrary arrest, detention, imprisonment, and 
     defamation of those who voice their opposition against the 
     government;
       Whereas the Government of Cuba engages in torture and other 
     cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment or punishment 
     against political prisoners including the use of 
     electroshock, intense beatings, and extended periods of 
     solitary confinement without nutrition or medical attention, 
     to force them into submission;
       Whereas the Government of Cuba suppresses the right to 
     freedom of expression and freedom of association and recently 
     enacted legislation which carries penalties of up to 30 years 
     for dissidents and independent journalists;
       Whereas religious freedom in Cuba is severely circumscribed 
     and clergy and lay people suffer sustained persecution by the 
     Cuban State Security apparatus;
       Whereas the Government of Cuba routinely restricts workers' 
     rights including the right to form independent unions;
       Whereas the Government of Cuba denies its people equal 
     protection under the law, enforcing a judicial system which 
     infringes upon fundamental rights while denying recourse 
     against the violation of human rights and civil liberties;
       Whereas in recent weeks the Government of Cuba has carried 
     out a brutal crackdown of the brave internal opposition and 
     independent press, arresting scores of peaceful opponents 
     without cause or justification;
       Whereas 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 in its opposition to the Government of 
     Cuba;
       Whereas at this time of great repression, the internal 
     opposition requires and deserves the firm and unwavering 
     support and solidarity of the international community;
       Whereas the Congress of the United States has stood, 
     consistently, on the side of the Cuban people and supported 
     their right to be free: Now therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) condemns in the strongest possible terms the repressive 
     crackdown by the Government of Cuba against the brave 
     internal opposition and the independent press;
       (2) expresses its profound admiration and firm solidarity 
     with the internal opposition and independent press of Cuba;
       (3) demands that the Government of Cuba release all 
     political prisoners, legalize all political parties, labor 
     unions, and the press, and schedule free and fair elections;

[[Page H1526]]

       (4) urges the Administration, at the 55th Session of the 
     United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, 
     Switzerland, to take all steps necessary to secure 
     international support for, and passage of, a resolution which 
     condemns the Cuban Government for its gross abuses of the 
     rights of the Cuban people and for continued violations of 
     all international human rights standards and legal 
     principles, and calls for the reinstatement of the United 
     Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cuba;
       (5) declares the acts of the Government of Cuba, including 
     its widespread and systematic violation of human rights, to 
     be in violation of the charter of the United Nations and the 
     Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
       (6) urges the President to nominate a special envoy to 
     advocate, internationally, for the establishment of the rule 
     of law for the Cuban people; and
       (7) urges the President to continue to actively seek 
     support from individual nations, as well as the United 
     Nations, the Organization of American States, the European 
     Union, and all other international organizations to call for 
     the establishment of the rule of law for the Cuban people.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. 
Gejdenson) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).
  (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
her remarks.)


                             General Leave

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks on H. Res. 99.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 99, a resolution 
detailing the systematic violations of human rights by the Castro 
regime; a resolution rendering our unwavering support to the dissidence 
and internal opposition in Cuba; a resolution that restates the U.S. 
commitment to freedom, to democracy in Cuba; a resolution which calls 
for further U.S. and international resolve against the oppression and 
subjugation of the Cuban people.
  As the U.S. delegation begins its work in Geneva for the 55th session 
of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Mr. Speaker, it is 
imperative that they be empowered by the passage of this resolution, 
which is a bipartisan effort and a bipartisan message that the United 
States Congress cannot be silent on this issue and will not tolerate 
the abuses inflicted by the Castro regime against its own citizens.
  This message we hope will be heard and received by the international 
community as a call to action against the deplorable human rights 
situation in Cuba. There is never a wrong time to condemn abuses 
inflicted upon our fellow human beings. It is always correct to speak 
out against injustice. There is never a wrong time to underscore the 
plight of hundreds of thousands of political prisoners or to underscore 
widespread cases of torture, of executions, of disappearance, of 
intimidation, of persecution, of forced exile throughout the four 
decades that Cuba has been under the brutal totalitarian dictatorship.
  It is not only our moral obligation but the duty of the United States 
as a global leader and a vanguard of democracy.
  My dear colleagues, the Castro regime has not changed. Let us not 
allow ourselves to be fooled by the facade created by the regime and 
its apologists. As Juan Tellez Rodriguez, independent Cuban journalist 
for the Freedom Agency, said earlier this year, ``The government in 
Havana continues to close itself off to the world. It insists on its 
closed, oppressive political system. It does not even open up to its 
own people who suffer and die slowly.''
  Indeed, it seeks to silence the independent voices on the island 
because it realizes the power of the human spirit, of what individuals 
can accomplish when they are able to exercise their natural rights.
  He goes on to say the Castro regime understands all too well the 
meaning of President Ronald Reagan's words when he said, ``No arsenal 
and no weapon in the arsenals of the world are so formidable as the 
will and moral courage of free men and women.''
  So the Castro regime continues to use any method, any strategy, any 
action to stifle freedom of expression in an attempt to undermine the 
Cuban people's struggle for liberty and democracy in their island 
nation.
  One of the most recent examples illustrating the repressive nature of 
the Castro dictatorship is the imprisonment, the trial and the 
sentencing of Cuba's best known dissidents, and they appear for our 
colleagues in the posters right in front of the well. Marta Beatriz 
Roque Cabello, Felix Bonne Carcases, Rene Gomez Manzano and Vladimiro 
Roca Antunez. These four brave Cubans were arrested in 1997 after 
petitioning the regime for immediate reforms and publishing a pamphlet 
entitled ``The Homeland Belongs to Us All,'' whereby they describe 
their hopes for a free and democratic Cuba.
  These four pictured above us languished in Castro's jails for more 
than 600 days without any charges filed against them, surviving 
inhumane treatment for almost 2 years, preparing to begin a hunger 
strike on March 16 if they were not brought to trial. So the Castro 
regime initiated the facade of a trial on March 1 amid a roundup and 
detention of dissidents. Last week, the regime sentenced Marta Beatriz, 
Felix, Rene and Vladimiro to varying prison terms merely for exercising 
their rights and for seeking to secure the rights for their fellow 
countrymen.
  As we consider this House Resolution 99, I would like my colleagues 
to think about these four brave men and women. I would like for us to 
ponder upon the words written by Marta Beatriz Roque in a letter dated 
February 7 of this year and smuggled out of her prison cell. In it, she 
said, ``I remain in my belief that the homeland belongs to all of us. 
Sufficient time has passed and there have been enough postponements. 
The time for liberty in this small prison will not wait. My brothers, I 
believe that we should not fear the shadows because their presence 
means that a light shines from a place not far away. Our struggle for 
our Nation's democratization already has been marked by this 
imprisonment. We have endured and passed the difficult test that will 
make us more persistent in our demands.
  ``I will be convinced of our cause's justice to my last breath. Even 
if we are sent to our deaths,'' she writes, ``we already have made a 
mark in life and we always will be a symbol to all of the world of 
repression, despite the laughable defamation to which we have been 
subjected to by this regime.''
  From her jail cell, Marta Beatriz Roque closes her letter to her 
fellow dissidents by saying, ``May God permit us to be together forever 
in the struggle.''
  With the sentencing of these four dissidents, Marta Beatriz, Felix, 
Rene and Vladimiro, the Castro regime thought that it would intimidate 
the internal opposition into silence and submission. Assuming it could 
stifle the struggle for freedom and muzzle self expression of the 
people, the regime believed that it would be able to continue 
manipulating public opinion in its favor in order to generate greater 
commercial ventures with foreign investors and governments that would 
help prolong its hold on power.
  Perhaps others could turn a blind eye to the words of Marta Beatriz 
and other dissidents; to the articles by independent journalists which 
document the human rights abuses and the violations of civil liberties. 
The U.S. Congress, however, could not and must not.
  The Cuban people need our unconditional support now more than ever. 
They need to know that the U.S. is unwavering in our commitment to a 
free and democratic Cuba; that we will not weaken our resolve amidst 
international pressure; that a superpower and global leader, as is the 
United States, will defend the rights of the oppressed against the 
oppressor.
  Let us be the light that Marta Beatriz spoke of in her letter. Let us 
render our unequivocal support to her and to the fellow dissidents 
sentenced recently by the Castro regime merely for exercising their 
rights.
  My dear colleagues, I ask that we protect the sanctity of the basic 
rights endowed upon all human beings; to

[[Page H1527]]

support the Cuban people in their struggle to live free as individuals 
and as citizens, and I ask for a vote in favor of this resolution 
today.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, after I conclude, I ask unanimous consent that the 
remainder of my time be given to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Menendez) for purposes of control.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Connecticut?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
resolution, and commend my colleagues from Florida and New Jersey for 
their leadership effort here.
  As bad as our entire Cuba policy is, this is a resolution that makes 
sense. The four dissidents should never have been arrested in any way, 
and I join my colleagues in condemning the Cuban government for their 
continued failure to recognize what are internationally accepted 
standards for human rights.
  Cuba is a country without a free press, without free labor unions, 
with no independent judiciary and no freedom of association. We might 
want to take our lead, though, for a general policy from the Catholic 
church, and that is that engagement can pay better dividends than the 
present confrontation which now goes on for better than 30 years.
  In that 30 years, I think Fidel Castro has been able to use the 
embargo as an excuse for his failed policies and police state. Nothing 
will bring down Castro's government faster than direct contact with 
Americans on a daily basis.
  I believe this resolution is right because we need to speak out every 
time Castro tries to slam the door on freedom and of expression in his 
country.

                              {time}  1345

  But I think the policy is wrong, because it gives Castro cover. We 
ought to join together and do what we did in the former Soviet Union 
and other places where there were repressive governments: Condemn their 
oppressive acts, and send Americans there to engage them, to show them 
the contrast of a great, free, and open society.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Goss).
  (Mr. GOSS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from 
Florida for yielding time to me.
  Mr. Speaker, anyone who has followed the long, tragic, sad history of 
the Castro regime in Cuba knows all too well the systematic violation 
of human rights employed by Castro to maintain his grip on power, his 
deadly grip on power.
  The resolution before us calls on the Clinton administration to 
secure passage of a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights 
Commission that condemns the Cuban government for its gross abuses of 
human rights of the Cuban people.
  Since the U.S. State Department agrees that ``The human rights 
situation in Cuba remains deplorable,'' and recognizes that ``the Cuban 
government has taken no significant steps towards political change,'' 
it seems to me that the Clinton administration would be eager to back 
up its rhetoric with some solid action. Making sure the international 
community does not let Castro's human rights abuses go unchallenged 
would be a very good place to start.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this resolution, and I commend 
the sponsors for bringing this issue before the House. It is long 
overdue.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Rothman), who has been a strong 
supporter on behalf of human rights and democracy in Cuba.
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to 
me. Also, I thank the sponsor, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen).
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 99, 
expressing the sense of the United States House of Representatives 
regarding the human rights situation in Cuba. I am proud to be an 
original cosponsor of this resolution.
  The wrongful imprisonment by Fidel Castro of the group of four, four 
Cuban citizens who were speaking out about the need for peaceful 
change, peaceful transformation to a democracy in Cuba, and were jailed 
by Fidel Castro, is only the latest example of Fidel Castro's efforts 
to suppress the most basic human rights of the Cuban people. Jailing 
Cubans for speaking their conscience is unjust, it is wrong, and it is 
important for the United States of America and our Congress to condemn 
such actions.
  However, let us step back for a minute, because not every American 
follows what is going on in Cuba every day, and ask ourselves, why are 
there human rights violations going on in Cuba? The answer is simple: 
Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro, a dictator, a totalitarian ruler, has 
decided that for the last 40 years, only he and he alone can decide the 
fate of the Cuban people. He says he is the only person in Cuba who God 
has given the right to rule over and decide the basic human rights of 
the Cuban people.
  It is fundamentally undemocratic. It is fundamentally wrong. He is 
the last surviving totalitarian dictator in the Western Hemisphere. 
That is who Fidel Castro is. Even after 40 years of totalitarian rule, 
Fidel Castro will not give his people freedom.
  All Fidel Castro has to do is hold free elections. If he is so 
popular, if his policies are so wise, then the people of Cuba will 
elect him. Why is he afraid to hold free elections? Because he is a 
totalitarian dictator who does not have the support of his people, and 
he knows it.
  I am proud to be a supporter of this resolution that focuses the 
world's attention where it should be, on the refusal of one man, Fidel 
Castro, to give the millions of people in his country their freedom, 
the last totalitarian dictator in the Western Hemisphere.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman 
from Florida (Mr. Scarborough).
  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida 
for this important resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I was thinking, as I heard the last speaker talk about 
the possibilities of challenging Castro on free elections, how we could 
challenge our president to build a bridge to the 21st century in Cuba, 
building a bridge on the foundation of free speech and free elections 
in Cuba.
  As the gentleman from New Jersey said, let us talk about the 21st 
century. Let us talk about bringing Cuba into the world community. Let 
us be reminded of the long, long struggle for a free Cuba. 
Unfortunately, real progress is being threatened by businesses, by 
baseball owners, and by government officials who are too willing to 
engage in an appeasement policy in exchange for quick cash.
  The arrest and recent sentencing of the ``group of four'' underscores 
what the Miami Herald has described as ``a draconian new law setting 
20-year sentences for dissidents who dare to support United States 
policies regarding Cuba.''
  The arrests also show the failure of this appeasement policy. 
Innocent people have been denied their most basic rights, their ability 
to speak freely and think freely about the government of Fidel Castro. 
So much for an engagement policy. Once again a permissive engagement 
policy has failed, just as our misguided engagement policy towards 
Communist China has failed, because the totalitarian police state of 
Castro must be toppled, not by trade but by a strong resolve.
  Baseball owners, business owners and our own government officials 
should turn their backs on a quick financial gain and instead, fight 
for freedom in Cuba by maintaining a strong resistance against the 
policies of Fidel Castro. They are policies of dying decades, not the 
21st century. Our vision must project forward, toward a free, strong, 
liberated Cuba.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to one of the leading 
human rights advocates in this Congress, the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Lantos).
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to 
me. I want to thank my friend, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Franks) and commend my good friend and colleague, the gentlewoman from 
Florida

[[Page H1528]]

(Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for introducing this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, like many others in this body, I would be more than 
ready to start changing our policy towards Cuba if the pattern of human 
rights violations would not continue. It is an appalling phenomenon 
that Castro continues his policy of suppression, oppression, and 
persecution of the Cuban people, particularly those Cuban people who 
are crying out for a modicum of democracy and freedom. This resolution 
properly calls on our government to carry the ball in Geneva in 
denouncing the human rights violations of Cuba.
  When I visited Cuba sometime ago, we had high hopes that the Castro 
government will recognize at long last that its policy of suppression, 
totalitarianism, and dictatorship are counterproductive. We were hoping 
that there might be some loosening, that there might be some opening 
up, that there might be some concessions towards a free press.
  When the Pope visited Cuba we had high hopes that the precedent of 
his visit would lead to modification of policies. None of these things 
have happened, and given the circumstances, Mr. Speaker, I strongly 
urge all of my colleagues to join the sponsors of this resolution, of 
which I am one, in calling for freedom for the Cuban people, and 
denouncing Castro's continuing human rights violations.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to our colleague, 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum).
  (Mr. McCOLLUM asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding time 
to me.
  Mr. Speaker, it is almost unbelievable that just 90 miles from the 
coast of the United States, one of two Communist dictators still 
existing in the world is present and still committing human rights 
atrocities, but that is a fact. Fidel Castro and his regime have been 
there for 40 years or so doing the same things they are doing today, 
and we in the United States and a lot of the others around the world 
still have not come to grips with this reality. Some want to engage in 
some false hope that they can have trade or communications or economic 
support in some way that will change the regime.
  The fact is that that is not going to change. Nothing is going to 
change to give freedom of press, freedom of association, freedom of 
speech in Cuba until Fidel Castro is gone, until he is out of office.
  The resolution we have before us today should be embraced by every 
member of this body. It is a simple resolution condemning Castro for 
another time, as we have done in the past, for all of his human rights 
atrocities, and reminding the world that he still is doing it.
  What is more troubling to me than simply the fact that we are 
reminding folks and talking about it today is the fact that the 
administration has not come to grips with this; that there is still a 
failure and unwillingness to fully support the Helms-Burton law, to 
allow those who had lost their property to recover the cost and the 
losses when Castro took over, who still own that property; failure to 
recognize the true gravity of the Brothers to the Rescue operation, and 
the losses the victims and the families of those folks who lost their 
lives there suffered, and to allow, I hope they will allow this 
administration the collection of the recent judgment; the failure to 
recognize that Castro is truly a criminal in so many ways. Instead, we 
are going down a road so frequently of engagement that is not working.
  We should internationally condemn him, the United States should 
condemn him, certainly this body today should condemn him for the human 
rights violations he continues to perpetrate.
  In the strongest of words, I urge my colleagues to vote for this 
resolution, and to send a solid message of bipartisanship in 
condemnation of Fidel Castro and his regime and his human rights 
atrocities.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Waters).
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, allow me to take this unpopular position. I 
rise today to ask my colleagues to put aside some of the rhetoric and 
to begin to focus on the facts.
  We are but 90 miles from Cuba, and we have countries from all over 
the world who have developed relationships now with Cuba and with 
Fidel. They are developing great resorts and they are doing business. 
Cuba wants to do business with the United States.
  I do not know why we allow China and Germany and Great Britain and 
Canada and other places to be there doing business, helping to promote 
economic development in their own countries, while we stand and we 
cannot figure out how to work out some kind of a peaceful coexistence 
with Cuba and with Castro.
  I think the time has come for us to recognize, we have to be about 
the business of talking about normalizing relations between the United 
States and Cuba. I met with dissidents on my trip there just 4 weeks 
ago.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to our colleague, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Franks).
  Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, last month Fidel Castro pulled 
on the tattered scraps of his aging iron curtain to impose new 
restrictions on the rights of the Cuban people. Since then, nearly 100 
dissidents have been arrested and detained. They have been held merely 
for speaking out against the Cuban dictatorship or discouraging the 
foreign investment that serves only to strengthen Castro's hand.
  At the same time Castro is rounding up dissidents he is providing a 
safe haven for some of America's most heinous and cold-blooded 
fugitives. It is a tragic irony that a cop killer like Joanne Chesimard 
can live freely as a guest of the Castro regime while scores of Cuba's 
native sons and daughters languish in Cuba's gulags for violations of 
free speech.
  This Congress must continue to voice our strong opposition to the 
degradation of human rights under Fidel Castro. I strongly urge my 
colleagues to support House Resolution 99, and I thank the gentlewoman 
from Florida for her continuing leadership.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support House Resolution 99, and 
to ask my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats, to do the same. This 
resolution concerns the forthcoming meeting of the U.N. Commission of 
Human Rights in Geneva, and support for a resolution at the Commission 
condemning Cuba's record on human rights.

                              {time}  1400

  In 1996, I successfully presented the U.S. resolution on Cuba and 
Geneva at President Clinton's request, and I am pleased to come to the 
floor today to advocate support amongst my colleagues for this very 
important resolution.
  Human rights is one issue for which there should be no division among 
Members of Congress. Regardless of my colleagues' views on U.S. policy 
towards Cuba, I believe that every Member of this institution believes 
that the Cuban people deserve the opportunity to exercise their basic 
human and civil rights: the right to peaceful dissent, the right to 
organize labor unions, the right to speak freely without fear of 
reprisal, and, most importantly, the right to choose their leaders. For 
40 years Cubans have been denied those very basic human and civil 
rights by one man, Fidel Castro.
  In recent weeks Castro has once again cracked down on human rights 
and democracy activists in Cuba. He announced a new law, the law called 
the ``Law for the Protection of Cuba's National Independence and 
Economy,'' which authorizes extensive prison terms, up to 20 years, for 
dissidents and journalists found to be working ``against the Cuban 
state.'' Just simply the writing of articles that may be at difference 
with the regime's view could cause them to be jailed and sentenced for 
two decades.
  Last Monday, despite international appeals for their release, 
including an appeal from the Vatican, Castro's kangaroo court system 
sentenced the four well-known members of the Internal Dissident Working 
Group to prison terms ranging from 3\1/2\ to 5 years for

[[Page H1529]]

their simple publication of a document entitled, ``La Patria Es de 
Todos,'' The Homeland Belongs to All.
  The entirety of their crime was to write this document and to share 
it with the diplomatic community and the foreign media. The document 
did not call for Cubans to take up arms or to violently oppose the 
regime. In fact, quite the contrary, the document suggested that Cuba 
needs to make space for civil society and embrace democratic 
institutions to avoid the spontaneous social violence that is likely to 
occur without such changes.
  For this simple act, Vladimiro Roca, the son of the prominent 
communist leader and former combat pilot Blas Roca, was sentenced to 5 
years in prison; lawyer and human rights activist Rene Gomez Manzano 
received 4 years in prison, as did Felix Bonne, an Afro-Cuban; and 
Marta Beatriz Roque, who suffers from breast cancer and has been denied 
medical treatment, sentenced to 3\1/2\ years. That was their crime, a 
simple document suggesting that peaceful change can take place in their 
country.
  This resolution recognizes the ongoing abuses of human rights in 
Cuba, including restrictions on religious freedom. Some confuse that 
the Pope's visit has now suddenly permitted all religious freedom to 
take place inside of Cuba, and the answer is, that is clearly not the 
case. Even the Vatican has expressed their disappointment at the 
subsequent restrictions that continue to exist on the Catholic church 
and other denominations who do not even enjoy the opportunities of the 
Catholic church, limited as they are, that have been presented.
  Arbitrary arrests and routine harassment of human rights activists 
and the torture and confinement, without adequate nutrition and medical 
care, of prisoners.
  The resolution condemns Cuba's flagrant abuses of human rights and 
urges the administration to work toward a strong resolution condemning 
the Cuban regime for these abuses at the meeting of the UN Commission 
on Human Rights in Geneva this spring.
  Lastly, the resolution calls on the administration to appoint a 
Special Rapporteur, one that has existed in the past, to advocate for 
the establishment of the rule of law for the Cuban people.
  The point of this resolution is to send a message to Fidel Castro 
that the United States will not stand idly by when faced with 
intensifying violation of human rights in Cuba. But more importantly, 
this resolution is intended to send a message to the Cuban people that 
the United States stands in solidarity with them as they struggle to 
exercise the basic freedoms and rights that are guaranteed to them, not 
by the United States but by virtue of Cuba's signature on the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights.
  Lastly, and let me just say that I do not ask that Members take my 
word about the situation in Cuba, I just want to read to my colleagues 
a few excerpts from the State Department's Human Rights Report for last 
year.
  It says: ``The Government's human rights record remained poor. It 
continued systematically to violate fundamental civil and political 
rights of its citizens. There were several credible reports of death 
due to excessive use of force by the police. Members of the security 
forces and prison officials continued to beat and otherwise abuse 
detainees and prisoners. The Government failed to prosecute or sanction 
adequately members of the security forces and prison guards who 
committed such abuses. The authorities routinely continued to harass, 
threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain, imprison, and defame human rights 
advocates and members of the independent professional associations'' 
struggling to create civil society inside of Cuba, ``including 
journalists, economists, doctors, and lawyers, often with the goal of 
coercing them into leaving'' their own country.
  ``Prison guards and state security officials also subjected human 
rights and prodemocracy activists to threats of physical violence; 
systemic psychological intimidation; and with detention or imprisonment 
in cells with common and violent criminals, aggressive homosexuals, or 
state security agents posing as prisoners. Political prisoners are 
required to comply,'' political prisoners, these are just people who 
speak up for democracy and human rights, who do not enjoy what we are 
doing in this Chamber at this very moment, at this time, regardless of 
my colleagues' views, individuals who just simply speak up their mind 
are routinely put with common criminals and often are punished severely 
if they refuse.
  ``Detainees and prisoners often are subjected to repeated, vigorous 
interrogations designed to coerce them into signing incriminating 
statements, to force collaboration with authorities, or to intimidate 
victims.''
  One of them, Wilfredo Martinez Perez, died as a result of his 
opposition to the Cuban regime. This is all the State Department Human 
Rights Report being quoted: ``On March 30, police detained Wilfredo 
Martinez Perez, a member of a human rights organization, for disorderly 
conduct at a public festival near his home in Havana. Martinez's body 
was delivered to a funeral home in Guines the next day where his family 
and other witnesses claimed that his body showed contusions and 
bruises, which suggested that he died as a result of a beating while in 
police custody.''
  How convenient for the Cuban authorities, arresting someone who is 
simply at a public festival and delivering his body dead home the next 
day to his family.
  That is the evidence, among others, that our colleagues need to 
decide on. That is the way in which they should cast their votes on 
this resolution. I cannot believe that those who support human rights 
in other parts of the world cannot support human rights inside of Cuba. 
Therefore, I expect them, as they speak in other parts of the world, to 
speak up today and to also cast their vote with us.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes 
to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), a prime sponsor of 
this legislation.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, what is it that we are condemning 
today? Among the many things that have already been mentioned in terms 
of human rights violations, we must add the law that Castro and his 
puppet parliament passed last month that the Cuban people, by the way, 
have coined with the definition of the ``Titanic Law'' because they 
know that the regime, as the tyrant knows as well and those around him, 
that the regime dictatorship is going down. So Cuban people have called 
it the ``Titanic law,'' but, nevertheless, it is a savage law.
  It threatens with up to 30 years of imprisonment anyone who 
cooperates with the United States, whatever that means; in other words, 
anyone who peacefully, according to the slanderous regime, advocates or 
works for a democratization of Cuba.
  In addition, the regime arrested March 1 over 100 dissidents and 
journalists and took to trial the four best-known opposition leaders in 
the country and then sentenced them, as my colleagues have mentioned.
  So these specifically are among the actions that we in Congress are 
condemning formally today. How are we doing it? We are condemning in 
the strongest possible terms the ongoing crackdown on internal 
opposition in the independent press, specifying that actions such as 
the sentencing of Rene Gomez Manzano and Vladimiro Roca and Marta 
Beatriz Roque and Felix Bonne, the sentencing of those four best-known 
opposition leaders and the crackdown must be condemned in the strongest 
possible terms, as also the crackdown on the brave independent press.
  We also reaffirm the profound admiration and strong solidarity in 
support of the Congress of the United States of the internal 
opposition. We reaffirm our support for the Cuban people's right to be 
free by demanding three very clear specific actions of the Cuban 
dictatorship.
  We demand that the Cuban dictatorship liberate all political 
prisoners, legalize all political parties, the press and labor unions, 
and agree to free and fair elections.
  We, as my colleagues have stated, urge the administration as well to 
increase its efforts to secure a resolution of condemnation of the 
regime for its human rights violations in Geneva, and ask that the 
administration also appoint an official to advocate throughout the 
international community for the reestablishment of the rule of law in 
Cuba.

[[Page H1530]]

  Today, the House of Representatives, Mr. Speaker, reaffirms its 
historic support for the Cuban people's right to be free, something 
that, to the credit and honor of this Congress, that Congress has done 
since 1898. So in the best tradition of the United States Congress, we 
stand once again with the Cuban people, demand freedom, free elections, 
democracy for the Cuban people, and reiterate to the world that we will 
continue to stand with the Cuban people until they are free, and they 
will soon be free.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask the Chair what the remaining time is 
between the parties.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) 
has 3\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen) has 3\1/2\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me just say that, as we close this debate, I want to 
take note of the controversy that has been brewing throughout the last 
couple of weeks, and that is the issue of the Baltimore Orioles seeking 
to play baseball inside of Cuba.
  It is ironic that, as we are debating human rights and democracy in 
Cuba here in this Chamber, that America's national pastime, which is 
one of the symbols of this country, would be used in such a way at a 
time in Cuba in which these four leading human rights activists have 
been imprisoned simply for peacefully speaking their mind in a 
document; at a time in which Castro passes a new law that is more 
repressive both in the civil rights of the Cuban people as well as to 
foreign journalists; at a time in which he expands the spy station in 
Lourdes which is used by Russians, who pay the Cuban regime to use 
their satellite monitoring facilities to monitor commercial and 
military activities in the United States; at a time that all these 
things take place, we are going to send a message to the world that it 
is okay to play ball with the dictatorship.
  In terms of those ball players, I will echo once again what I have 
personally, along with some of my colleagues, have said to them; that 
the very rights that major league baseball players have in this 
country, the rights to collective bargaining, the rights to negotiate 
their contract and the conditions under which they work, the rights for 
which they even have the right to strike on and for which they have 
exercised those rights in this country in order to ensure the benefits 
that they believe that they are justly due, none of those rights exist 
for the Cuban people or for Cuban baseball players.
  The Cuban national team is not there by choice. They are there 
ultimately because they must be there. They have no ability to 
negotiate any contract. They have no ability to be able to determine 
the nature under which they play. They have no ability to determine 
whether or not they will have the right to strike. None of that exists 
for them or for any Cuban worker.
  Foreign companies that actually invest inside of Cuba, such as those 
that were mentioned by a previous speaker, that are doing business 
inside of Cuba are doing it with slave labor because they cannot hire a 
Cuban worker directly.
  Those of us who stand here and are proud of our AFL-CIO voting 
records, are proud of standing on behalf of organized labor, are proud 
of the rights that working women have in this country to organize and 
collectively bargain and to seek a fair and decent wage on behalf of 
their work, those opportunities do not exist for the Cuban people, who 
ultimately are hired not by the companies that invest inside of Cuba, 
but the state sends the workers to the employer. The worker is paid 
with useless Cuban pesos while the state, the regime, gets paid by the 
foreign companies in hard dollars, and they are given a fraction of 
their wages which, in essence, is slave labor.

                              {time}  1415

  So I hope that major league baseball understands that they are not 
promoting democracy inside Cuba when they go play ball. On the 
contrary, they are playing ball with a dictatorship.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MENENDEZ. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for bringing up 
that game, and perhaps our colleagues would be interested in knowing 
that in fact every Cuban-born baseball player now playing on our 
American teams have said, ``We will not go to Cuba. We do not think 
that this is the correct signal.'' Because they have been there. They 
know the first person to politicize this national pastime of both the 
U.S. and the Cuban people is Fidel Castro himself. In fact, many of 
these players had been banned from playing baseball because Castro did 
not want them to participate in that sport. He feared for their 
defection.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Gilman), the chairman and the engine in our Committee on 
International Relations and proud sponsor of this resolution.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me, 
and I want to thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), 
the distinguished chairman of our Subcommittee on International 
Economic Policy and Trade of the Committee on International Relations, 
for having introduced this important resolution, H. Res. 99, which 
condemns the repressive crackdown by the government of Cuba against the 
internal opposition and the independent press in Cuba.
  This resolution expresses our solidarity with those brave individuals 
and calls on Cuba to release all political prisoners, to legalize the 
political parties, labor unions, the press, and to schedule free and 
fair elections in Cuba. And I am pleased to be among such a strong 
bipartisan list of cosponsors on this resolution.
  East European diplomats have noted that Fidel Castro's Cuba reminds 
them of Stalin's Russia. And last week Fidel Castro reminded the world 
that they are right when a Communist court convicted and sentenced the 
four authors of the manifesto ``The Homeland Belongs to Everyone'' to 
hard time in prison. In a March 2 editorial the Washington Post wrote, 
``If the four are convicted and sentenced, it will show that the regime 
won't permit any opposition at all. What then will the international 
crowd have to say about the society-transforming power of their 
investments?''
  The trial of these four was accompanied by the arrest of dissidents 
and the blocking of international access to the court.
  This travesty follows closely on the heels of a so-called ``Law to 
Protect the National Independence and Economy of Cuba.'' The Catholic 
lay group, Pax Chrisiti Netherlands, reported last month that the law 
``bans a broad range of civil activities, violates the right to freedom 
of press, assembly, opinion and expression. It brings the Iron Curtain 
back to Cuba. The new steps of the Cuban government shows its contempt 
for the numerous requests by the international community to give a 
clear signal of its commitment to internationally recognized human 
rights law and to reform the Cuban criminal code accordingly.''
  International reaction to the sentencing of these four dissidents has 
begun to take shape. Last year, during a high profile trip to Havana, 
Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien asked Castro to release the four. 
Last week, Canada's Foreign Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, faced sharp 
questions in the House of Commons with regard to this issue. Opposition 
leader Bob Mills demanded, ``How can this government deny that its 20 
years of soft power policy toward Cuba has been anything but a total 
failure?'' And in his response, Axworthy suggested that developments 
like the jailing of the dissidents were ``bumps on the road.''
  I think it is time for our Canadian and European allies to 
acknowledge Fidel Castro's contempt for them and to take a real stand. 
Their opportunity will come at Geneva sometime in early April.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bass). The time of the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) has expired.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for an additional 2 
minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

[[Page H1531]]

  Mr. Speaker, it is time for our Canadian and European allies to 
acknowledge Fidel Castro's contempt for them and to take a real stand. 
Their opportunity will come in Geneva sometime in early April when the 
U.N. Human Rights Commission is going to consider a resolution 
condemning Cuba's abuses.
  I hope that our allies will not only vote for a strong resolution 
reinstating the special rapporteur, but will also sign on as cosponsors 
and help with the effort to win the necessary votes for passage of that 
resolution.
  Regrettably, last year's U.S. sponsored resolution condemning Cuba 
was defeated. This was a major setback which the administration vowed 
to reverse. H. Res. 99 has strong support from both sides of the aisle 
and will send a loud clear signal to back our U.S. delegation to the 
55th meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
  On February 7, one of the four jailed dissidents, Marta Beatriz 
Roque, who suffers from untreated cancer, wrote to her fellow prisoners 
of conscience, ``My brothers, I believe we should not fear the shadows 
because their presence means that a light shines from a place not far 
away.''
  With the news of Cuba's best known dissidents being sentenced fresh 
in our minds, all eyes should be on how the community of nations 
conducts itself at Geneva. Let a good resolution from the U.N. Human 
Rights Commission provide the light that Marta Beatriz Roque invoked.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to unanimously support this 
resolution.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H. Con. Res. 99. 
As one who historically has been an advocate for human rights and 
justice worldwide, I have serious concerns about H. Res. 99. I am 
fearful that this resolution, with its extreme and provocative 
language, will only introduce further tension into US-Cuba relations at 
this particularly unstable time.
  The resolution will do nothing to improve the lives of the Cuban 
people and it will do nothing to improve relations between our two 
countries. It is more of the ``tit for tat'' policy that has been the 
map of failure in the past and represents more of the same for the 
future.
  No one can justify or condone human rights violations anywhere in the 
world. Certainly, Cuba's recent crack down on its independent 
journalists and dissidents provokes serious concerns and criticism here 
and within the international community. However, like other nations, we 
need to take a rational approach to the current situation in Cuba, 
rather than support the extremist language in this resolution.
  Since this resolution addresses the United Nations Human Rights 
Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, it is also important to recognize 
that last year, for the seventh year in a row, the UN General Assembly 
condemned the US economic embargo on Cuba by a vote of 157-2 and called 
on Washington to end its sanctions. Instead of discussing more 
legislation which increases the hostility between the US and Cuba and 
further isolates us from the United Nations and the rest of the world, 
we should be discussing legislation which addresses human rights for 
Cubans in total. This would include addressing one of the most 
egregious human rights offenses: the US's denial of food and medicine 
to the Cuban people.
  If we are truly serious about assisting the Cuban people, we need to 
cultivate a sphere of influence on the island and a diplomatic 
relationship with the Government of Cuba. The unreasonable language in 
this resolution will only exacerbate hostility and further anti-
American sentiment in Cuba, which will get us nowhere.
  We should listen to Elizardo Sanchez, Cuba's leading human rights 
activist as he states: ``The more the US pressures and threatens the 
Cuban government, the more defensive and recalcitrant it becomes. This 
is not the way to encourage an atmosphere that favors change.''
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to talk 
about human rights. Not only in Cuba, but also in this country.
  I believe in civil rights for all people, here and abroad. However, I 
want to caution my Colleagues who have come to this floor today to 
``Condemn Castro's Cuba'' for his human rights record and remind my 
colleagues that we have yet to pass a resolution on the human rights of 
those victims of police brutality.
  I ask my colleagues why it is so easy to ``beat up'' on Cuba and yet 
at the same time grant mainland China most favored nation status.
  There is no doubt that Cuba needs improvement in realizing economic, 
social, civic, political and cultural rights. However, I remind my 
colleagues of the phrase, ``those who live in glass houses . . . ''
  Furthermore, I ask my colleagues how this condemning resolution and 
how American hostility will actually help Cuba realize a better human 
rights record. How does that embargo assist Castro in realizing civil 
liberties of its citizens?
  For the record, I want to make it clear that Human Rights Violations 
in this country are just as threatening to democracy as those in Cuba 
or anyplace else on the face of the earth.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, House Resolution 99, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was 
agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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