[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 3, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1364-H1368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXPRESSING SENSE OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REGARDING HUMAN RIGHTS IN
CUBA
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 91) expressing the sense of the House
of Representatives regarding the human rights situation in Cuba.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Res. 91
Whereas, according to the Department of State and
international human rights organizations, the Government of
Cuba 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 Government of Cuba
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 Government of Cuba 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 Government of Cuba violate
internationally accepted norms of conduct;
Whereas the House of Representatives is mindful of the
admonishment of former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo
during the last Ibero-American Summit in Havana, Cuba, that
``[t]here can be no sovereign nations without free men and
women [. . . m]en and women who can freely exercise their
essential freedoms: freedom of 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
Government of Cuba continues to deny international human
rights and humanitarian monitors access to the country;
Whereas Pax Christi further reports 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 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--
(1) the House of Representatives condemns the repressive
and totalitarian actions of the Government of Cuba against
the Cuban people; and
(2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that
the President--
(A) should have an action-oriented policy of directly
assisting the Cuban people and independent organizations,
modeled on United States support under former President
Ronald Reagan, including support by United States trade
unions, for Poland's Solidarity movement (``Solidarnosc''),
to strengthen the forces of change and to improve human
rights within Cuba; and
(B) 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 Government of Cuba for its human rights
abuses, and to secure the appointment of a Special Rapporteur
for Cuba.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from California (Mr.
Lantos) each will control 20 minutes.
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The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).
General Leave
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise to render my strong support for House Resolution 91, a
resolution which documents and condemns the systematic repression of
the Cuban people by Cuba's totalitarian regime and urges the member
countries of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to do the
same. This resolution was passed with bipartisan support by the
Committee on International Relations last Wednesday, March 29. We thank
the leadership on both sides of the aisle for understanding the
importance of moving this measure quickly through the House.
H. Res. 91 gives the Cuban people a voice that has been denied to
them by the tyrannical regime that represses them. It serves to empower
those who are struggling to bring democracy to their island nation of
Cuba. It also sends a clear signal to the world and specifically to the
member countries of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights that the United
States Congress stands firm in our commitment to human rights and
freedom, that the U.S. supports the Cuban people and condemns the
abhorrent behavior of the Cuban regime. It calls on the member
countries of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights to adhere to the
Geneva Convention which stipulates that the observance of human rights
cannot be conditioned, that no external action can justify violations
of the fundamental rights of every human being.
As Mexico's foreign minister, Dr. Jorge Castaneda, stated on March 20
during his address to the commission in Geneva: ``The status of human
rights in any nation is a legitimate concern of consequence to the
international community as a whole. The task of promoting their
enforcement and respect is an undertaking incumbent to all governments
and to all peoples.''
My dear colleagues, how much we wish that there were no need for this
resolution. How we wish that the Cuban people were free from the
shackles of tyranny, able to exercise their rights endowed to them by
our Creator. Unfortunately, that is still a dream. The crackdown on
dissidents, the detentions, the harassments, intimidation, physical and
psychological torture have intensified, not decreased. Pax Christi,
Freedom House, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights, and our own State Department all provide
ample evidence of this grim reality. The intensification of abuses
prompted Amnesty International to send a letter in February of this
year to the Cuban authorities expressing its concerns at the serious
escalation in the arrests and the harassment of political opponents
inside the island.
Amnesty's letter stated: ``The increasing number of people jailed for
peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression clearly
demonstrates the level to which the government will go in order to
weaken the political opposition and suppress dissidents.''
In just the first week of November of 2000, 27 independent
journalists and dissident leaders were arrested. Over the weekend of
December 8, 100 dissidents were arrested by Cuban state security to
block activities coinciding with World Human Rights Day and with the
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thousands of
others continue to languish in squalid jail cells, devoid of light, of
food, and of medical attention. Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez, an
Afro-Cuban dissident and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience,
has been in prison since March 1990. He has been beaten, tortured, his
hands and feet bound to each other and attacked by dogs who have clawed
into his flesh.
{time} 1500
He continues to protest the regime's human rights abuses from within
his jail cell, conducting hunger strikes and writing testimonials which
document the atrocities committed inside Cuba's prisons.
Then there is the case of Maritza Lugo Fernandez, vice president of
the democratic movement, ``30 de Noviembre-Frank Pais,'' and Dr. Oscar
Elias Biscet of the Lawton Foundation of Human Rights, who continue to
suffer ``tapiados'' in a small, humid cell, without windows, a solid
steel door with excrement and urine on the floor.
The recently released State Department Human Rights report
underscores that prison conditions continue to be harsh and, indeed,
life threatening.
Prison guards and state security officials subject human rights and
pro-democracy activists to beatings and threats of physical violence;
to systematic and psychological intimidation; to lengthy periods of
isolation, as well as to detention and imprisonment in cells with
common and violent criminals; to sexually aggressive inmates and state
security agents who are posing as prisoners.
Religious persecution has intensified with the Ministry of Interior
engaging in active efforts to control and monitor the country's
religious institutions, including surveillance, raids, evictions, and
harassment of religious worshipers. The regime maintained the strict
censorship of news and information, both domestic and foreign, with
accredited foreign media facing possible sentences up to 20 years in
prison if the information is not acceptable to Castro's regime.
Cuba's dictatorship has made it a priority to prevent the contact
between Cuban pro-democracy advocates and the outside world.
In the last year, it arrested and interrogated Latvian pro-democracy
activists, Romanian, Polish, Swedish and French journalists, a Czech
member of parliament, and a former finance minister, and countless
others because they met with dissidents and opposition leaders. These
foreign visitors did not allow themselves or their actions to be
controlled by the dictatorship. They chose to shine the light of truth
on Cuba, and today, Madam Speaker, we in Congress can do the same.
I urge our colleagues to vote for this important measure and to do it
for them. As the posters show on the well, the families of Cuba's
political prisoners, do it for their sons, for their daughters, for
their mothers, for their fathers, husbands and wives; for Cuba's
dissidents and for their opposition. Vote for House Resolution 91
because it is right and because it is just.
As the global leader, the United States has as our duty and
obligation the responsibility to carry forth our message of freedom;
and let us begin by voting yes on House Resolution 91.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, let me first congratulate my good friend and
colleague, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), for her
leadership on this matter.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution. The
United Nations Human Rights Commission is meeting as we speak, and it
will soon be considering country-specific resolutions, including a
resolution on Cuba and the appalling human rights situation there.
The Cuban government, Madam Speaker, remains the last dark stain of
totalitarianism in the Western Hemisphere, which is otherwise marching
forward towards increasingly democratic and open societies.
Our State Department Country Report on Human Rights for the year just
ended, again describes the Government of Cuba as having continued to
violate systematically the fundamental civil and political rights of
its citizens. The State Department report states the Cuban government
severely restricts worker rights, including the right to form
independent unions.
One of the most significant aspects of this resolution is providing
assistance to independent nongovernmental organizations and independent
trade unions that can make an enormous contribution to the improvement
of human rights in Cuba, and I strongly welcome the resolution's focus
on this issue.
I also want to recognize the ranking Democratic member of the
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, the
[[Page H1366]]
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), for his extraordinary
leadership in this important arena. He was one of the first to propose
directing assistance to these kinds of activities.
We all hope that the U.N. Commission on Human Rights will provide for
the appointment of a special rapporteur for Cuba, who could give an
independent and objective view of the human rights conditions on the
island. I urge all of my colleagues to support H. Res. 91.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume
to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the vice chairman of our
committee.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend, the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), for yielding me this time.
Madam Speaker, I am very proud to be the principal sponsor of this
resolution on human rights in Cuba and especially grateful to the
chairwoman of the Subcommittee of International Relations and Human
Rights, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), for her
courage, for her consistency in promoting human rights in Cuba and all
around the world. That consistency, I think, is very much needed in
politics and in statesmanship, and I applaud her for it.
I also want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart),
who has been outstanding in his defense of those who labor against all
odds time and time again. Mr. Diaz-Balart is a powerful voice in
Congress on behalf of the persecuted and opposed. It is an honor to be
his friend and collegue.
We had the only hearing last year on Elian Gonzalez when he was
abducted and sent back to Cuba. We heard from a number of people who
dealt with children's rights--or the lack of children's rights--in
Cuba, who talked about how the child is molded by Marxist ideology and
that the parents have little or no rights with regard to their own
offspring. We heard testimony from Reverend Walker who cited Matthew
25, one of my favorite teaching in the Bible, which talks about our
Lord saying, ``When I was hungry did you feed me, when I was naked did
you clothe me?'' And he was defending the Cuban dictatorship.
Amazingly, he said that he saw the fulfillment of Matthew 25 in Cuba,
which was an astounding and patently untrue statement to be made by a
clergyman.
Then I asked him about a portion of Matthew 25 which he somehow left
out. Jesus said: ``When I was in prison, did you visit me?'' So we
asked him--I asked him and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart)
jumped in right after me--did you Rev. Walker ever visit any of the
400, maybe as many as 1,200, political dissidents who have languished
in Castro's gulags day in and day out? Did you ever visit any of those?
He said, oh, yes. Then the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart)
asked if I would yield and he jumped in and said, ``Name them.''
Not one single person was named because apparently he had never
visited, to the best of our knowledge, any specific dissident; never
spoke to power the dictatorship that is to say to Castro, in Havana of
the needs and the daily degradations that are suffered and endured by
those who labor for democracy.
As this resolution attests, and other speakers will surely amplify,
the Castro regime is a totalitarian government that routinely employs
torture, extrajudicial killings, forced abortion, and other gross
abuses against its own citizens.
In my remarks, I would like to concentrate some of my time on the
particularly grave situation of human rights defenders, the brave men
and women inside of Cuba who dare to criticize the actions of the
regime or who simply advocate compliance with the minimum standards of
civility and decency set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
One thing that frequently happens to human rights defenders in Cuba
is that they are subjected to what the government calls ``acts of
repudiation.'' Here is what the most recent Country Report on Human
Rights Practices issued by our State Department had to say about these
acts. At government instigation, and I quote,
``Members of state-controlled mass organizations, fellow
workers or neighbors of intended victims are obliged to stage
public protests against those who dissent from the government
policies, shouting obscenities and often causing damage to
the homes and property of those targeted. Physical attacks on
the victims sometimes occur. Police and state security agents
are often present but take no action to prevent or to end the
attacks. Those who refuse to participate in these actions
face disciplinary action, including loss of employment.''
If a human rights defender persists in disagreeing with the
government, he or she may be committed to a psychiatric institution.
Like its former ally and protector, the Soviet Union, the Cuban
government abuses psychiatry to imprison religious and political
dissenters under the rubric of such diagnoses as, quote, ``apathy
towards socialism, or,'' and I quote, ``delusions of defending human
rights.''
Last year, Dr. Oscar Biscet criticized the government for a wide
range of human rights violations, including its policy of forcing women
and girls to have abortions. Fidel Castro called Biscet a ``little
crazy man.'' The police then took Dr. Biscet to a psychiatric hospital
for testing.
Dr. Biscet is now serving a 3-year sentence for the crime of what
they call ``dangerousness''. Recently for fasting in remembrance of the
murder of the men and women on the 13th of March, the boat that was
deliberately cleared of its occupants and who were drowned by Castro's
thugs, Dr. Biscet got over a month of solitary confinement simply
because he fasted in protest.
Madam Speaker, political and religious prisoners are often subjected
to torture and a number have died in prison due to the effects of such
mistreatment and denial of proper medical care.
Madam Speaker, reasonable people may have some disagreement about
what we should do from time to time with regard to U.S. policy for
these brutal acts. Some believe in a policy of so-called constructive
engagement. I strongly believe that our policy of isolating the regime
subject to carefully defined humanitarian exceptions for food and
medicine that are already a part of U.S. law with respect to Cuba is
the right policy.
The one thing we should all agree on, whatever our differences on
other aspects of U.S. policy, is that the United States should tell the
truth. Indeed, the whole purpose of the U.N. Human Rights Commission
now meeting in Geneva is to provide a forum in which representatives of
sovereign nations will speak to each other openly and honestly about
human rights. This is not always as easy as it sounds, because the
Commission's membership includes such world-class human rights
violators as the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Libya, Iraq, and
Saudi Arabia; and it also includes Cuba, whose delegate stood up in
Geneva last week and proudly reported that, and I quote, ``there are no
human rights violations in Cuba.''
Give me a break, Madam Speaker. What utter nonsense.
Madam Speaker, a strong bipartisan vote for today's resolution will
send a signal to Havana, to the community of nations assembled in
Geneva, and to the victims themselves, that we Americans remain united
in our commitment to tell the truth, and our commitment to the well
being of those who suffer daily for democracy and human rights; and it
is our hope that the truth, with the help of God, will set the Cuban
people free.
Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I want to strongly commend my good friend and
colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), for his powerful
and eloquent statement.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the chairman emeritus of our
Committee on International Relations.
(Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. GILMAN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in strong support of
the adoption of H. Res. 91, which expresses the sense of the House
regarding the human rights situation in Cuba.
[[Page H1367]]
I commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), our
distinguished vice chairman of the Subcommittee on International
Operations and Human Rights, for introducing this resolution, and my
colleagues on both sides of the aisle for joining us in cosponsoring
this resolution, particularly the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen); and the ranking minority member of our Committee on
International Relations, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos);
and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart); and the gentleman
from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez).
With the rise of democratic dissent in Cuba, Fidel Castro has been
forced to increase his efforts to isolate courageous dissidents from
their international supporters, but this has become increasingly
awkward for one of the world's last surviving Communist dictatorships.
When Germany's foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, made an issue of
this case and announced his intention to meet with dissidents in Cuba,
his visit to Havana was abruptly cancelled by the Cuban government.
Foreign journalists in Cuba have come under increasing pressure in
recent months, and Mr. Castro has lashed out at several foreign leaders
for criticizing his outrageous conduct. It would appear that Mr. Castro
is willing to sacrifice his carefully packaged international image in
order to prevent fellow Cubans who are opposed to his regime from
receiving moral support or even having contact with citizens of
democratic nations.
{time} 1515
Next month, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights will be considering a
resolution regarding the human rights situation in Cuba. It is
extremely important that this resolution be approved. Moreover, we must
not accept any attempts to insert language in that resolution seeking
to draw moral equivalency between the Castro regime's systematic
repression of the Cuban people and our embargo, which is intended to
pressure that very same regime to free the Cuban people.
Accordingly, Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to fully support
this bipartisan resolution.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield the remainder of my time to
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), with whom I am proud to
be going to Geneva for the human rights convention next week, but
before doing so, I would ask that the gentleman from California (Mr.
Lantos) yield to us the remainder of his time so that I may yield it to
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart).
Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield the remainder of my time to the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I would inquire, then, as to the
remaining time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Emerson). The total time remaining is
20 minutes.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield the remaining time to the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart).
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Madam Speaker, late last night I was walking through
what I consider these hallowed halls, and I came across near the
Rotunda two monuments, statues, of two universal men who I am thinking
about at this time. One is Kossuth, the apostle of Hungarian freedom.
The other is Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved tens of
thousands of lives during the Holocaust. I know the gentleman from
California (Mr. Lantos) has had much to do with the fact that in these
hallowed halls we have those reminders of those universal statesmen.
I realized once again last night, first, what an extraordinary honor
and privilege it is to be able to serve in this Congress. In addition
to that, I realized once again last night that this Congress of the
United States of America is the center of dignity and democracy for the
entire world, for the entire world.
The gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), for whom I have ultimate
admiration, was born in a land that saw much suffering in the 20th
century and now, fortunately, is free. The gentlewoman from Florida
(Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and I were born in a land that has seen much
suffering for the last 42 years and, unfortunately, is still not free,
though it will be.
But the gentleman from California, knowing as he knows what
totalitarianism, that scourge of the 20th century that unfortunately
still remains in a few places, is all about, totalitarianism, he,
perhaps more than anyone else in this hall, understands the
extraordinary courage that it takes for someone who at this moment is
languishing is a dungeon and whose husband is as well in another
dungeon, because they are leaders of a political party in Cuba that is
illegal called the 30th of November Democratic Political Party, and
they ask, and they believe, and they advocate for free elections. They
have two small daughters that they cannot take care of, and they are at
the total mercy of the totalitarian regime, those two small daughters,
because father and mother are both political prisoners.
Despite that, a few days ago Maritza Lugo, that leader of democratic
Cuba, of the Cuba of the future, managed to sneak out of prison a
statement. I would like to read just a part of it: From this horrible
place, I come before you, the international organizations who defend
human rights, defenders of democracy, justice and peace, the religious
organizations, the whole world and its people, to denounce the
Government of Cuba.
I accuse the dictatorial government imposed on Cuba and its
repressive arm, the State Security, of all the injustices and abuses
they commit against the Cuban people, the penal population, and
especially against the political prisoners of conscience. I accuse
those miserable and cowardly men and women who, through the use of
force, commit all types of human rights violations, while nothing stops
them as they attempt to defend a false ``revolution'' built and
maintained upon a foundation of lies and infamies.
To the dictatorial government I say, stop denying that you torture
people. Stop denying international organizations access to our prisons
with the pretext that you don't accept others meddling in your internal
affairs.
Maritza Lugo continues, I accuse the Castro government of separating
the Cuban family who, in desperation, flee Cuba for political reasons,
and it goes on and on.
I ask the addressees of these lines, she states, this young woman,
soon to convene in Geneva at the Human Rights Commission, to discuss
Cuba, to consider the ill treatment of the Cuban people by its own
government. I know that no delegation, Madam Speaker, I know that no
delegation will be permitted to come visit me, Maritza Lugo says, so
that they can see and corroborate this raw truth. If justice exists,
however, this government, the Cuban Government, should be sanctioned
for this and so many other violations that they are constantly
inflicting upon the Cuban population as they deceive and laugh at the
world.
And another brave woman, an economist, Martha Beatriz Roque, has just
published an article, and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos)
again knows the kind of ultimate courage that that takes: From within
the totalitarian State, Castro's government maintains a system of
economic apartheid that favors foreigners and denies Cubans basic
opportunities. There exists an economic apartheid where no Cuban can
invest in his country. He would have to leave and return as a
foreigner. We cannot hope for development of social progress or an
improvement in the standard of living while the economic repression
weighs on our people and our country.
Now, despite, as Pax Christi, the organization, states and is quoted
in this resolution that I commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Smith) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for, and the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) and the gentleman from California
(Mr. Lantos) so much more, despite the conspiracy of silence that has
fallen over the reality of Cuba, and despite the tourists that
constantly have a good time, and the economic apartheid system, not
even mentioning one word of the thousands of political prisoners in the
repression against the entire Nation, despite that, this Congress today
is making a statement. And those people in prison in Cuba will receive
this, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next
[[Page H1368]]
month, but they will receive this news, and it will be extraordinarily
important for them to receive the news that the American Congress, this
beacon of hope for the entire world, has spoken once again. Why?
Because this again, as I said, Madam Speaker, is the center of dignity
and honor and of democracy for the entire world.
Yesterday at a conference going on in Havana right now, the President
of something called the Inter-Parliamentary Union, approximately 1,000
members of Parliament from around the world, elected, have gone to Cuba
to celebrate their conference while they party. The President of that
conference was asked, is there democracy in Cuba? Her name, Najma
Heptulla from India. Her answer was, The answer is yes. If we do not
believe in it, then we would not have come back. Obviously, the
parties, while they are being filmed must be very good. They certainly
outweigh the conscience.
But the conscience of this Congress will outweigh other interests
today. I am certain that the message will go out very clearly that this
Congress in sovereign representation of this Nation once again stands
with the oppressed Cuban people.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the remaining time.
In closing, I would like to quote directly from House Resolution 91
to indicate the importance of speaking out against these practices, and
I am going to quote from two important figures from the Czech Republic
and the Polish movement, two of the Republics that are helping us in
passing the resolution and promoting it in Geneva next week. It reads,
``President Havel, an essential figure in the Czech Republic's
transition to democracy, has counseled that we 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''; and
``former President Lech Walesa, leader of the Polish solidarity
movement,'' who has urged the world to ``mobilize its resources, just
as was done in support of the Polish solidarity movement and the Polish
workers to express their support for Cuban workers and to monitor Cuban
labor rights'' in Cuba.
We thank these leaders for the human rights agenda in Geneva, and we
hope that our colleagues will help us in passing House Resolution 91
today.
Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam Speaker, Cuba is a totalitarian state controlled
by Fidel Castro. The Government's human rights record remains a poor
one. It continues to violate systematically the fundamental civil and
political rights of its citizens, who do not have the right to change
their government peacefully.
The Government retaliates systematically against those who seek
political change. Members of the State security forces and prison
officials continue to beat and otherwise abuse detainees and prisoners,
neglecting them, isolating them and denying them medical treatment.
The authorities routinely threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain,
imprison and defame human rights advocates and members of independent
professional associations, often with the goal of coercing them into
leaving the country. The government severely restricts worker rights,
including the right to form independent trade unions. It requires
children to do farm work without compensation during their summer
vacation.
Political prisoners are estimated at between 300 and 400 persons.
Charges of disseminating enemy propaganda can bring sentences of up to
14 years. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international
reports of human rights violations and mainstream foreign newspapers
and magazines constitute enemy propaganda. The Government controls all
access to the Internet, and all email messages are subject to
censorship.
All media must operate under party guidelines and reflect government
views. The Government attempts to shape media coverage to such a degree
that it exerts pressure on domestic journalists and on foreign
correspondents.
The law punishes any unauthorized assembly of more than three
persons, including those for private religious services in a private
home. The authorities have never approved a public meeting by a human
rights group. The Government continues to restrict freedom of religion.
The Government prohibits, with occasional exceptions, the construction
of new churches.
Madam Speaker, these are not my words. They are not the words of the
Cuban American National Foundation. They are the dispassionate words of
the State Department Human Rights Report.
I'll close with two specific accounts of Cubans who suffer under
Castro.
Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, a doctor and human rights leader, was
imprisoned for hanging a Cuban flag upside down. He has been beaten
and, during several prolonged periods placed in punishment cells in
isolation, prohibited from receiving visitors, food, clothes and
books--including the Bible. This is worse even than the treatment given
to Nelson Mandela as a prisoner.
Dorca Cespedes, a reporter for independent Havana Press, was told by
the director of her daughter's daycare center, that the toddler could
no longer attend, due to the mother's ``counterrevolutionary''
activities.
Dr. Biscet has been called the Martin Luther King, Jr. of Cuba.
Ms. Cespedes could be any one of us--a parent trying to make a living
and raise her child in a life of truth and justice.
Madam Speaker, any even cursory reading of what's going on in Cuba
today tells us that we've seen this totalitarianism before. We've seen
it for decades in Cuba, just as we saw it for decades in the former
Soviet bloc.
Madam Speaker, let us today recall our support for human rights and
democracy in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and let us
pledge, by agreeing to this resolution, the same support for Cubans
endeavoring to seek truth and break free.
Whatever a member feels about our policy towards Cuba with regard to
the economic sanctions, there is no excuse for not agreeing to this
resolution condemning the human rights practices of Cuba's government.
I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for bringing it before us; I am
proud to be an original cosponsor of the resolution; and I urge its
unanimous adoption today by the House.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam 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 91.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and
nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
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