[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 24, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E551-E552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


             SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING HUMAN RIGHTS IN CUBA

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                               speech of

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 23, 1999

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my 
support for H. Res. 99. If you follow Cuban policy at all, I know you 
will agree with me that it is disappointing to see this Administration 
yield to this hemisphere's last remaining dictator, Fidel Castro. Not 
long ago, President Clinton announced a new proposal to loosen the 
trade embargo on the Government of Cuba. The embargo was codified 
because of the murder of unarmed American citizens. I believe that 
Castro has done nothing to warrant any reevaluation of the sanctions 
imposed on his regime. Now, almost three years later, the President has 
taken steps that not only breathe new life into the brutal Castro 
dictatorship, but he is trying to circumvent U.S. law.
  Now, we learn that the Clinton Administration has decided to hold our 
American pastime hostage. If the President gets his way, the Baltimore 
Orioles will face a Cuban National team in Havana on March 28th of this 
year. It is appalling to me that the President is using baseball to 
push friendly relations with the Cuban dictatorship. This will be the 
first Major League Baseball visit to Havana since 1959, and it couldn't 
come at a worse time. A Cuban court has just convicted the island's 
four top opposition leaders for sedition.
  Vladimiro Roca Antunez, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, Felix Bonne 
Carcases, and Rene Gomez Manzano were arrested in 1997 after 
petitioning the regime for immediate reforms and publishing a pamphlet 
entitled ``The

[[Page E552]]

Homeland Belongs to Us All.'' In this pamphlet, they describe their 
hopes for a free and democratic Cuba. They were convicted for nothing 
more than expressing their opinions and speaking the truth. They are 
the Lech Walensas & Vaclav Havels of Cuba. Their trial and conviction 
came two weeks after Castro handed down his new Sedition Law to 
severely punish those who dare speak to foreign journalists or publicly 
criticize his revolution.
  Under the new Sedition Law, they were arrested for holding news 
conferences with foreign journalists and diplomats, urging voters to 
boycott Cuba's one-party elections, warning foreigners that their 
investments would contribute to Cuban suffering, condemning Castro's 
grip on power, and criticizing Communist Party propaganda. Mr. Speaker, 
this sounds to me like a return to the gulags of Soviet communism and 
the horror of European fascism.
  They were apprehended and jailed 1\1/2\ years ago for their 
``crimes''. On top of the imprisonment and physical and mental 
mistreatment they endured for more than 600 days, the four freedom 
fighters were also forced to endure a Stalinist show trial. As a recent 
wire report observed, in keeping with the closed, totalitarian nature 
of the Castro regime, ``Few Cubans and even fewer foreigners are 
allowed inside a Cuban courtroom. Trials tend to be closed and 
proceedings are rarely reported by the government-controlled media.'' 
But Castro eagerly allowed the cameras to roll during the trial of 
these four dissidents to send a message to the rest of the island: 
Anyone who threatens his regime will be punished severely. Cuban 
reporters are terrified of the new Sedition Law; it has empowered 
Castro's secret police to intensify their harassment of Cuba's already-
stifled press.

  The dissidents received prison sentences ranging from 3\1/2\ to 5 
years. The independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National 
Reconciliation said that since Feb. 26, 1999, authorities had rounded 
up nearly 40 other dissidents and warned an additional 35 to remain at 
home during the March 1st trial. Officials from the U.S. Interest 
Section in Havana were denied access to the trial.
  The State Department recently released this statement regarding the 
trial: ``We strongly denounce these actions by the Cuban government, 
which reveal its utter disregard of the concerns of the international 
community.'' Yet, neither the president nor the secretary of state has 
taken any action to put muscle behind those words. In fact, 
underscoring its perverse misunderstanding of the situation, the State 
Department believes the trial and conviction of these four voices of 
freedom is the very reason we need more people-to-people contacts with 
Havana. The only thing more people-to-people contacts will do is 
further prop-up Castro's regime.
  Finally, it should be noted that the Sedition Law was approved by 
Castro just weeks after the president's January announcement that he 
was easing the embargo.
  Mr. Speaker, I must also report even more disturbing news to my 
colleagues. I believe we have an administration that is so hellbent on 
normalizing relations with Cuba that it is willing to overlook 
allegations of drug-trafficking.
  On December 3, 1998, the Colombian National Police seized 7.5 tons of 
cocaine headed for Cuba, and eventually likely the United States and 
elsewhere. I have sent investigators down there who were able to put 
together the pieces of the puzzle in three days which our government, 
the ONDCP, DEA, CIA, and White House have either not been willing to 
do, or worse do not want to put together.
  I have a letter from Barry McCaffrey which says there is no evidence 
that the Castro government is involved in drug-trafficking, ignoring 
the fact that Castro's brother, Raul, has been under indictment in 
Miami since the early 1990's for drug-trafficking and racketeering. 
Also, Ileana de la Guardia, the daughter of executed Cuban Colonel Tony 
de la Guardia, is currently involved in a court case in France where 
she alleges that drug trafficking reaches the ``highest echelons'' of 
the Cuban government.
  What is the problem with this administration when it comes to Fidel 
Castro? Why does the White House continue to ignore the grim and brutal 
realities of Castro's dictatorship? I don't know the answer, but I 
believe it goes beyond a simple disagreement on policy. How we can turn 
a blind eye to Castro's behavior and even reward him is truly beyond 
me.
  What is obvious is the fact that this White House will do anything to 
normalize relations with the last dictator in the Western Hemisphere. 
The White House wants to dilute and then eliminate the Burton-Helms 
Embargo; the White House is flouting the law, ignoring the will of the 
American people, and tossing aside four decades of bipartisan agreement 
on Castro. It is left to us in Congress to do what is right.
  Mr. Speaker, I join my fellow cosponsors in support of H. Res. 99. 
Let's do everything we can to keep the heat on Castro and his gulags. 
As a Houston Chronicle editorial recently observed, ``This is no time 
to play ball with Fidel Castro.''

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