[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 39 (Thursday, March 22, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2776-S2781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

SENATE RESOLUTION 62--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
                     HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN CUBA

  Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Graham, Mr. Kyl, Mr. 
Helms, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. Torricelli, 
Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, Mr. Sessions, Mr. DeWine, and Mr. Santorum) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 62

       Whereas, according to the Department of State and 
     international human rights organizations, the Cuban 
     government continues to commit widespread and well-documented 
     human rights violations against the Cuban people and to 
     detain hundreds more as political prisoners;
       Whereas the Castro regime systematically violates all of 
     the fundamental civil and political rights of the Cuban 
     people, denying freedoms of speech, press, assembly, 
     movement, religion, and association, the right to change 
     their government, and the right to due process and fair 
     trials;
       Whereas, in law and in practice, the Cuban government 
     restricts the freedom of religion of the Cuban people and 
     engages in efforts to control and monitor religious 
     institutions through surveillance, infiltration, evictions, 
     restrictions on access to computer and communication 
     equipment, and harassment of religious professionals and lay 
     persons;
       Whereas the totalitarian regime of Fidel Castro actively 
     suppresses all peaceful opposition and dissent by the Cuban 
     people using undercover agents, informers, rapid response 
     brigades, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, 
     surveillance, phone tapping, intimidation, defamation, 
     arbitrary detention, house arrest, arbitrary searches, 
     evictions, travel restrictions, politically motivated 
     dismissals from employment, and forced exile;
       Whereas, workers' rights are effectively denied by a system 
     in which foreign investors are forced to contract labor from 
     the Cuban government and to pay the regime in hard currency 
     knowing that the regime will pay less than 5 percent of these 
     wages in local currency to the workers themselves;
       Whereas these abuses by the Cuban government violate 
     internationally accepted norms of conduct;
       Whereas the Senate is mindful of the admonishment of 
     President Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico during the last Ibero-
     American Summit in Havana, Cuba, that ``[t]here can be no 
     sovereign nations without free men and women. Men and women 
     who can freely exercise their essential freedoms: freedom of

[[Page S2778]]

     thought and opinion, freedom of participation, freedom of 
     dissent, freedom of decision.'';
       Whereas President Vaclav Havel, an essential figure in the 
     Czech Republic's transition to democracy, has counseled that 
     ``[w]e thus know that by voicing open criticism of 
     undemocratic conditions in Cuba, we encourage all the brave 
     Cubans who endure persecution and years of prison for their 
     loyalty to the ideals of freedom and human dignity'';
       Whereas former President Lech Walesa, leader of the Polish 
     solidarity movement, has urged the world to ``mobilize its 
     resources, just as was done in support of Polish Solidarnosc 
     and the Polish workers, to express their support for Cuban 
     workers and to monitor labor rights'' in Cuba;
       Whereas efforts to document, expose, and address human 
     rights abuses in Cuba are complicated by the fact that the 
     Cuban government continues to deny international human rights 
     and humanitarian monitors access to the country;
       Whereas Pax Christi further reports (September 2000) that 
     these efforts are complicated because ``a conspiracy of 
     silence has fallen over Cuba'' in which diplomats and 
     entrepreneurs refuse even to discuss labor rights and other 
     human rights issues in Cuba, some ``for fear of endangering 
     the relations with the Cuban government'', and businessmen 
     investing in Cuba ``openly declare that the theme of human 
     rights was not of their concern'';
       Whereas the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission 
     on Human Rights in Geneva provides an excellent forum to 
     spotlight human rights and expressing international support 
     for improved human rights performance in Cuba and elsewhere;
       Whereas the goal of United States policy in Cuba is to 
     promote a peaceful transition to democracy through an active 
     policy of assisting the peaceful forces of change on the 
     island;
       Whereas the United States may provide assistance through 
     appropriate nongovernmental organizations to help individuals 
     and organizations to promote nonviolent democratic change and 
     promote respect for human rights in Cuba; and
       Whereas the President is authorized to engage in democracy-
     building efforts in Cuba, including the provision of (1) 
     publications and other informational materials on transitions 
     to democracy, human rights, and market economies to 
     independent groups in Cuba; (2) humanitarian assistance to 
     victims of political repression and their families; (3) 
     support for democratic and human rights groups in Cuba; and 
     (4) support for visits and permanent deployment of democratic 
     and international human rights monitors in Cuba: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That (a) the Senate condemns the repressive and 
     totalitarian actions of the Cuban government against the 
     Cuban people.
       (b) It is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the President should establish an action-oriented 
     policy of directly assisting the Cuban people and independent 
     organizations to strengthen the forces of change and to 
     improve human rights in Cuba;
       (2) such policy should be modeled on the bipartisan United 
     States support for the Polish Solidarity (Solidarnosc) 
     movement under former President Ronald Reagan and involving 
     United States trade unions; and
       (3) the President should make all efforts necessary at the 
     meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 
     Geneva in 2001 to obtain the passage by the Commission of a 
     resolution condemning the Cuban government for its human 
     rights abuses, and to secure the appointment of a Special 
     Rapporteur for Cuba.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy 
     of this resolution to the President.

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, the resolution I am privileged to 
introduce today condemns the human rights practices in Cuba, urges 
assistance to non-governmental organizations that are working to 
achieve greater freedom and respect for human rights in Cuba, and 
supports a strong United Nations resolution against Cuba at the UN 
Human Rights Commission session that begins this week in Geneva. The UN 
Commission's annual meeting is an ideal opportunity to focus the 
spotlight of world opinion on the appalling human rights conditions in 
Cuba and to underscore our support for those who continue to champion 
the cause of freedom for the Cuban people.
  The repressive situation in Cuba is not new. Indeed, the United 
States has been closely watching events in Cuba for more than 40 years 
and trying to find ways to foster democratic changes; changes that have 
since swept through the rest of our hemisphere and around the world. My 
distinguished colleagues in Congress and various administrations over 
the years have not always agreed on how best to help the Cuban people 
achieve the fundamental rights we enjoy here in America. But we 
overwhelmingly agree on what is the root of the problem in Cuba: Fidel 
Castro.
  As we well know, his totalitarian regime has systematically repressed 
the fundamental rights of the Cuban people and denied them the most 
basic of freedoms. This oppression has not eased with time but has in 
fact become worse, as is documented in disturbing detail in the State 
Department's recently issued Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 
for 2000.
  In early 1998, Pope John Paul II visited Cuba, a remarkable historic 
event that raised a glimmer of hope that perhaps the Castro regime 
would relax some of its repressive practices, particularly with regard 
to religious organizations of all types, including the Catholic Church 
to which great numbers of Cubans are faithful. In that same year, the 
UN Human Rights Commission did not renew the mandate of its Special 
Rapporteur on Cuba, with the understanding that the Cuban government 
would improve human rights practices if it were not under formal 
sanction by the United Nations.
  But, I am sorry to say that, according to the State Department's 
report, human rights practices in Cuba have actually become worse. 
Despite the Pope's visit, Castro's government continues to clamp down 
on religious groups, requiring them to register, but then not 
registering them, so that they must meet illegally. It refuses to issue 
required permits to religious groups to build places of worship, but 
harasses groups that resort to meeting in private homes. It limits 
access by churches to the media and printing facilities. It withholds 
visas to priests and nuns. It conducts surveillance, infiltration and 
harassment of religious professionals and lay persons. And when the UN 
Human Rights Commission passed a new resolution expressing concern over 
this situation in April 1999, the Cuban government responded by 
organizing a protest march of about 200,000 people in Havana. Such 
marches are not voluntary; attendance of workers and school children is 
taken and workers have been threatened with imprisonment for not 
showing up.
  As hard as it is to imagine, the Cuban government's repression of 
human rights activists is even more severe than that experienced by 
religious groups. Not a single human rights organization is recognized 
by the government. Under Cuban law, any unauthorized assembly of more 
than three persons can be punished by imprisonment and, predictably, no 
public meeting has ever been approved for a human rights organization. 
Human rights advocates and independent journalists are routinely 
arrested, detained and subjected to interrogation, threats, degrading 
treatment and unsanitary conditions. Even more disturbing is that the 
Cuban Constitution, rather than being the foundation for the rule of 
law and freedoms, actually provides the justification for this 
repression. It contains sweeping provisions that allow the denial of 
what few civil liberties even exist in Cuba for anyone who actively 
``opposes socialism'' or appears ``dangerous.'' As a result, the police 
arrest people at will or subject them to therapy or re-education. The 
Constitution is simply a sham, a license to oppress.

  The penalties for opposition to these intolerable conditions are 
severe. Criticism is considered ``enemy propaganda'' and can result in 
up to 14 years imprisonment. According to the State Department report, 
this ``enemy propaganda'' includes the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights, international reports on human rights violations, and foreign 
newspapers and magazines. In late 1999, Amnesty International reported 
that approximately 200 persons were arrested around the anniversary of 
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to prevent them from 
commemorating that event. Human rights activists described the 
escalation of arbitrary arrests and detention as the worst in a decade. 
They estimate there are currently between 300 and 400 political 
prisoners in Cuba.
  This massive oppression sounds archaic, a relic of another time, the 
stuff of a Cold War world that has been relegated to the history books. 
But it is not history in Cuba. It is the harsh reality of everyday 
life. Cuba remains a world of informers, block committees that report 
on their neighbors and co-workers, infiltrators in groups that the 
government thinks might be subversive. Cuba is a place where teachers 
write evaluations of their students' ``ideological character'' and that 
of their parents, evaluations that follow the children throughout their 
schooling and determine their future education and careers. Cuba is a 
nation

[[Page S2779]]

where the government monitors phone calls, controls and limits Internet 
access, and restricts the ability to purchase fax machines and 
photocopiers. Recently, two Czech citizens, one a member of Parliament 
and the other a student activist, were arrested in Cuba for the 
``crime'' of meeting with dissidents and bringing them pencils and a 
computer.
  The resolution my colleagues and I are introducing today condemns 
these repressive and indefensible policies of the Castro regime. It 
calls for the United States to implement a policy supporting the non-
governmental organizations in Cuba that are working toward a more open 
society, respect for human rights and greater political, economic and 
religious freedom for the Cuban people. Our support should be modeled 
on the assistance that we gave to the former Communist nations of 
eastern Europe, such as Poland in the 1980's, where the U.S. funded 
non-governmental institutions like the Solidarity trade union movement 
that were working tirelessly for democracy and a free economy. This 
resolution also calls for active U.S. support for a strong United 
Nations resolution on Cuba at the current session of the UN High 
Commission for Human Rights to demonstrate broad international 
condemnation of Cuba's human rights record. America must stand as a 
light on this bleak horizon. I urge my colleagues to lend their voices 
in support of this resolution and for the promotion of basic human 
rights and dignity for the Cuban people.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Introduction to the State 
Department's report on human rights in Cuba to be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

        Cuba--Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000

  [Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. 
                  Department of State, February 2001]

       Cuba is a totalitarian state controlled by President Fidel 
     Castro, who is Chief of State, Head of Government, First 
     Secretary of the Communist Party, and commander-in-chief of 
     the armed forces. President Castro exercises control over all 
     aspects of life through the Communist Party and its 
     affiliated mass organizations, the government bureaucracy, 
     and the state security apparatus. The Communist Party is the 
     only legal political entity, and President Castro personally 
     chooses the membership of the Politburo, the select group 
     that heads the party. There are no contested elections for 
     the 601-member National Assembly of People's Power, ANPP, 
     which meets twice a year for a few days to rubber stamp 
     decisions and policies already decided by the Government. The 
     Party controls all government positions, including judicial 
     offices. The judiciary is completely subordinate to the 
     Government and to the Communist Party.
       The Ministry of Interior is the principal organ of state 
     security and totalitarian control. Officers of the 
     Revolutionary Armed Forces, FAR, which are led by President 
     Castro's brother, Raul, have been assigned to the majority of 
     key positions in the Ministry of Interior in recent years. In 
     addition to the routine law enforcement functions of 
     regulating migration and controlling the Border Guard and the 
     regular police forces, the Interior Ministry's Department of 
     State Security investigates and actively suppresses 
     opposition and dissent. It maintains a pervasive system of 
     vigilance through undercover agents, informers, the rapid 
     response brigades, and the Committees for the Defense of the 
     Revolution, CDR's. The Government traditionally uses the 
     CDR's to mobilize citizens against dissenters, impose 
     ideological conformity, and root out ``counterrevolutionary'' 
     behavior. During the early 1990's, economic problems reduced 
     the Government's ability to reward participation in the CDR's 
     and hence the willingness of citizens to participate in them, 
     thereby lessening the CDR's effectiveness. Other mass 
     organizations also inject government and Communist Party 
     control into citizens' daily activities at home, work, and 
     school. Members of the security forces committed serious 
     human rights abuses.
       The Government continued to control all significant means 
     of production and remained the predominant employer, despite 
     permitting some carefully controlled foreign investment in 
     joint ventures with it. Foreign companies are required to 
     contract workers only through Cuban state agencies, which 
     receive hard currency payments for the workers' labor but in 
     turn pay the workers a fraction of this, usually 5 percent in 
     local currency. In 1998 the Government retracted some of the 
     changes that had led to the rise of legal nongovernmental 
     business activity when it further tightened restrictions on 
     the self-employed sector by reducing the number of categories 
     allowed and by imposing relatively high taxes on self-
     employed persons. In September the Minister of Labor and 
     Social Security publicly stated that more stringent laws 
     should be promulgated to govern self-employment. He suggested 
     that the Ministry of Interior, the National Tax Office, and 
     the Ministry of Finance act in a coordinated fashion in order 
     to reduce ``the illegal activities'' of the many self-
     employed. According to government officials, the number of 
     self-employed persons as of September was 156,000, a decrease 
     from the 166,000 reported in 1999.
       According to official figures, the economy grew 5.6 percent 
     during the year. Despite this, overall economic output 
     remains below the levels prior to the drop of at least 35 
     percent in gross domestic product that occurred in the early 
     1990's due to the inefficiencies of the centrally controlled 
     economic system; the loss of billions of dollars of annual 
     Soviet bloc trade and Soviet subsidies; the ongoing 
     deterioration of plants, equipment, and the transportation 
     system; and the continued poor performance of the important 
     sugar sector. The 1999-2000 sugar harvest, just over 4 
     million tons, was marginally better than the 1998-99 harvest. 
     The 1997-98 harvest was considered the worst in more than 50 
     years. For the tenth straight year, the Government continued 
     its austerity measures known as the ``special period in 
     peacetime.'' Agricultural markets, legalized in 1994, provide 
     consumers wider access to meat and produce, although at 
     prices beyond the reach of most citizens living on peso-only 
     incomes or pensions. Given these conditions, the flow of 
     hundreds of millions of dollars in remittances from the exile 
     community significantly helps those who receive dollars to 
     survive. Tourism remained a key source of revenue for the 
     Government. The system of so-called tourist apartheid 
     continued, with foreign visitors who pay in hard currency 
     receiving preference over citizens for food, consumer 
     products, and medical services. Most citizens remain barred 
     from tourist hotels, beaches, and resorts.
       The Government's human rights record remained poor. It 
     continued to violate systematically the fundamental civil and 
     political rights of its citizens. Citizens do not have the 
     right to change their government peacefully. There were 
     unconfirmed reports of extrajudicial killings by the police, 
     and reports that prisoners died in jail due to lack of 
     medical care. 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 abuses. Prison conditions remained harsh. The 
     authorities continued routinely to harass, threaten, 
     arbitrarily arrest, detain, imprison, and defame human rights 
     advocates and members of independent professional 
     associations, including journalists, economists, doctors, and 
     lawyers, often with the goal of coercing them into leaving 
     the country. The Government used internal and external exile 
     against such persons, and it offered political prisoners the 
     choice of exile or continued imprisonment. The Government 
     denied political dissidents and human rights advocates due 
     process and subjected them to unfair trials. The Government 
     infringed on citizens' privacy rights. The Government denied 
     citizens the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and 
     association. It limited the distribution of foreign 
     publications and news, reserving them for selected party 
     faithful, and maintained strict censorship of news and 
     information to the public. The Government restricts some 
     religious activities but permits others. Before and after the 
     January 1998 visit of Pope John Paul II, the Government 
     permitted some public processions on feast days, and 
     reinstated Christmas as an official holiday; however, it has 
     not responded to the papal appeal that the Church be allowed 
     to play a greater role in society. During the year, the 
     Government allowed two new priests to enter the country, as 
     professors in a seminary, and another two to replace two 
     priests whose visas were not renewed. However, the 
     applications of many priests and religious workers remained 
     pending, and some visas were issued for periods of only 3 to 
     6 months. The Government kept tight restrictions on freedom 
     of movement, including foreign travel. The Government was 
     sharply and publicly antagonistic to all criticism of its 
     human rights practices and discouraged foreign contacts with 
     human rights activists. Violence against women, especially 
     domestic violence, and child prostitution are problems. 
     Racial discrimination occurs. The Government severely 
     restricted worker rights, including the right to form 
     independent unions. The Government prohibits forced and 
     bonded labor by children; however, it requires children to do 
     farm work without compensation during their summer vacation.

  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise to join Senator Leiberman and other 
Members of the Senate as an original sponsor of a bipartisan resolution 
critical of human rights practices in Cuba. The resolution we are 
introducing today urges the President to develop initiatives to assist 
the Cuban people and independent organizations in Cuba in their 
struggle for change, human rights and democracy. Our resolution cites 
U.S. support for Solidarity in Poland in the 1980s as a model to 
emulate. The resolution also urges the United States to take an active 
role in approving a resolution condemning Cuba at the United Nations 
Human Rights Commission in Geneva that is underway as we speak.

[[Page S2780]]

  The recent arbitrary arrest of two Czech citizens, a legislator and a 
student, by Cuban authorities in Cuba reminds us of the extent to which 
the government will go to squash expressions of freedom and opposition 
to the regime. The two Czech citizens understand the arbitrary nature 
of their arrest because they have been victims of suppression in their 
own personal struggle for freedom and democracy in their own country a 
few years ago.
  As Human Rights Watch noted, Cuba has ``a highly effective machinery 
of repression,'' Journalists, writers, intellectuals, and anyone else 
who disagrees or dares to challenge the regime risk harassment, 
imprisonment or other harsh treatment. Human rights repression in Cuba 
is one of the most serious impediments to improved relations with the 
United States.
  The goal of our resolution is to encourage a peaceful transition to 
democracy through transparent initiatives that will support human 
rights groups in Cuba, make available materials and relevant literature 
on human rights, and provide humanitarian assistance to nongovernmental 
organizations on the island.
  My criticism of human rights practices in Cuba is consistent with my 
criticism of our unilateral economic sanctions against Cuba. There is 
no inherent incompatibility between these two critiques. A pro-
engagement policy can be a pro-human rights policy in much the same way 
it was in our policy towards central and eastern European countries 
during the cold war.
  I believe that programs, such as those of the National Endowment for 
Democracy and its core institutes, can help promote democracy and 
political freedoms in Cuba and are likely to be more successful in 
promoting change than economic coercion. Contacts and interactions 
through trade, travel, tourism, student exchanges, and other forms of 
engagement will, in my view, yield more positive results in changing 
Cuba and improving Cuban human rights practices than isolation and 
punitive sanctions. This may not be true in all cases where we have 
differences with other countries, but I believe it has merit with 
respect to Cuba.
  I hope my colleagues in the Senate will join Senator Lieberman and 
the other sponsors in supporting this resolution and that some day Cuba 
will join Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and other states around 
the world in making the transformation from tyranny to freedom and 
democracy.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, as Americans, we sometimes take for granted 
the fundamental rights for which our forefathers fought and on which 
this great nation was founded. We must not forget, however, that there 
are places in the world where people are denied these basic freedoms. 
Sadly, even with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the spread of 
freedom and democracy in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, there are 
countries that still do not have freedom of press, assembly, movement, 
religion or association; where people do not have the right to 
peacefully change their government; and where individuals do not have 
the right to due process.
  Cuba is one such country, a nation that, despite our efforts over the 
past 40 years, remains subject to the dictatorial rule of Fidel Castro. 
Castro retains power over the Cuban people through force, fear, and 
deprivation. A 1999 Human Rights Watch Report, Cuba's Repressive 
Machinery: Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolution, summarized 
the deplorable situation in that country, stating,

       Over the past forty years, Cuba has developed a highly 
     effective machinery of repression. The denial of basic civil 
     and political rights is written into Cuban law. In the name 
     of legality, armed security forces, aided by state-controlled 
     mass organizations, silence dissent with heavy prison terms, 
     threats of prosecution, harassment, or exile. Cuba uses these 
     tools to restrict severely the exercise of fundamental human 
     rights of expression, association, and assembly. The 
     conditions in Cuba's prisons are inhuman, and political 
     prisoners suffer additional degrading treatment and torture. 
     In recent years, Cuba has added new repressive laws and 
     continued prosecuting nonviolent dissidents while shrugging 
     off international appeals for reform and placating visiting 
     dignitaries with occasional releases of political prisoners.

  Clearly, it is time to explore a different approach to dealing with 
Cuba. It is important that, as the era of Fidel Castro's rule comes to 
a close, we work to establish a long-term relationship with the Cuban 
people.
  During the 1980's President Reagan was a champion for human rights in 
the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, standing up for freedom, 
democracy, and civil society. He passionately spoke of American values 
and God-given rights, and more importantly, backed his words with 
action. In his 1982 ``Evil Empire'' speech before the British House of 
Commons, President Reagan stated:

       While we must be cautious about forcing the pace of change, 
     we must not hesitate to declare our ultimate objectives and 
     to take concrete actions to move toward them. We must be 
     staunch in our conviction that freedom is not the sole 
     prerogative of a lucky few but the inalienable and universal 
     right of all human beings.

  Poland is but one example of the success of this firm stance. Pope 
John Paul II, after he visited Cuba in 1998, said, ``I wish for our 
brothers and sisters on that beautiful island that the fruits of this 
pilgrimage will be similar to the fruits of that pilgrimage in 
Poland.''
  Senator Lieberman has introduced a resolution calling upon the United 
States to offer assistance to Cuban people and independent 
organizations, modeled after President Reagan's support for the Polish 
Solidarity Movement. Though our debate on the embargo is sure to 
continue during this Congress, Senator Lieberman's resolution outlines 
the basic problem on which we can all agree. Fidel Castro's human 
rights record is deplorable, and the situation continues to 
deteriorate. Furthermore, this resolution proposes a solution that 
supports the strengthening of civil society in Cuba, offering hope to 
the people there who are struggling to emerge from beneath the shell of 
communism. It also calls upon the U.S. delegation to this year's 
meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission to actively support the 
passage of a resolution condemning Cuba for its human rights 
violations.
  As we continue to enjoy the fruits of liberty, we have an obligation, 
as Americans, to take a stand against Castro's regime and assist the 
Cuban people in a peaceful transition to democracy. We have an 
opportunity, beginning with the passage of this resolution, to reach 
out to the Cuban people through the wall of repression that Castro has 
built around his small island, so that they may some day taste the 
freedom and justice that we have been afforded not by chance, but by 
the hard work and perseverence of those who believed that life should 
not be any other way. With our help, the Cuban people can further their 
progress down the road to democracy.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, democracy and the rule of law are the norm 
in the Western Hemisphere, but the Cuban people remain denied the 
blessings of freedom. And the violations of their rights by Fidel 
Castro's regime are widespread, well-documented, and impact upon every 
aspect of their lives.
  Policymakers in Washington may wrangle over the details of how United 
States policy in Cuba should be implemented, but we can all agree that 
the Cuban people need and deserve our support to bring about change in 
their country.
  It is important to underscore that the Cuban people aren't passively 
waiting for change. They are taking peaceful action every day trying to 
advance the cause of freedom and democracy. This often costs them their 
physical freedom, their jobs, their families--even their homeland.
  Despite these endeavors, Castro remains as intransigent and 
repressive as ever. Since January, he has stepped up efforts to beat 
down Cubans who dare to hope for liberation by jailing and harassing 
those who speak out.
  Not content to simply control the Cuban people, Castro has also 
intensified his harassment of foreigners who provide moral or material 
support to pro-democracy dissidents.
  Swedes, Czechs, Lithuanians, Mexicans, and Americans have been 
detained by Castro's police in recent months for meeting with or giving 
money, printed material, and other help to Cuban dissidents.
  Mr. President, foreign governments have been maligned for ``licking 
the Yankee boot'' because they support passage of a U.N. Commission on 
Human Rights resolution condemning the human rights record in Castro's 
Cuba.

[[Page S2781]]

  Foreign officials have been not-so-cordially invited to cancel visits 
to Cuba because they had dared to suggest that there is room for 
improvement in Cuba's human rights record.
  Therefore, Castro is essentially criminalizing contact with the Cuban 
people and trying bully democratic countries into abandoning their 
principles--and thereby abandoning the Cuban people.
  We won't be bullied--and our allies in Europe and Latin America must 
not let themselves be bullied either.
  It is against this back-drop that I am joining Senator Lieberman and 
a distinguished, bipartisan group of my colleagues today in introducing 
a resolution regarding the human rights situation in Cuba, a resolution 
that is designed to give momentum to efforts to pass a U.N. Human 
Rights Commission resolution on Cuba when it convenes in Geneva this 
month.
  It is also designed to give momentum to a more pro-active and 
creative U.S. policy of working with the Cuban dissident community 
modeled on President Reagan's successful efforts to help Poland's 
Solidarity Movement work for change during the cold war.
  Most importantly, it is a message to remind the Cuban people that the 
United States stands solidly with them in their peaceful struggle for 
freedom. I am confident that other Senators will want to join Senator 
Lieberman in supporting this important resolution.

                          ____________________