[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.

[[Page H1365]]

  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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