[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 54 (Thursday, April 3, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H2815-H2818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CUBAN REGIME ARRESTS PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bishop of Utah). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Lincoln Diaz-Balart) is recognized for at least half the time until 
midnight as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the 
remarks of the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) and then my 
distinguished friend from Florida, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Foley),

[[Page H2816]]

with regard to the crackdown that the Cuban dictatorship is engaged in 
at this moment against the pro-democracy movement in Cuba.
  An entire new generation of leaders has developed and sprung up in 
Cuba; and even though they make a very purposeful point of maintaining 
their struggle always to a totally peaceful means, the dictator in Cuba 
is nervous, precisely because an entire generation of leadership that 
signifies and represents the future of Cuba has arisen. So this 
crackdown has occurred while the attention of the world, and it is 
occurring while the attention of the world is obviously upon Iraq 
because of the liberation of Iraq taking place by coalition forces led 
by the United States.
  So taking advantage of the fact that the world is looking at Iraq, 
the Cuban dictator has once again filled his prisons with men and women 
who are peaceful pro-democracy activists or independent librarians, 
independent journalists, including Raul Rivero who is usually referred 
to as the dean of independent journalists in Cuba. Very well-known 
peaceful pro-democracy activists have been part of this roundup. Their 
homes have been burst into by the thugs of the dictatorship called the 
Rapid Action Brigades. They have burst into the homes, ransacked the 
homes, stolen property and terrorized the families of the pro-democracy 
victims, as well as the pro-democracy activists; and that has been 
going on systematically in the last 2 weeks in Cuba.
  As I stated before, very well-known activists such as Hector Palacios 
and Martha Beatriz Roque are among the many, the 80 that we know of. 
Certainly there are many more that we do not know of, but 80 we know 
of.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the list of the 80 imprisoned 
journalists and activists that we know of.

                        Independent Journalists

       Victor Rolando Arroyo, Pedro Arguelles Moran, Majail 
     Barzaga Lugo, Carmelo Diaz Fernandez, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, 
     Adolfo Fernandez Sainz, Miguel Galvan Gutierrez, Julio Cesar 
     Galvez, Edel Jose Garcia, Roberto Garcia Cabreras (prision 
     domiciliaria), Jorge Luis Garcia Peneque, Ricardo Gonzalez 
     Alfonso, and Luis Gonzalez Penton.
       Alejandro Gonzalez Raga, Normando Hernandez, Juan Carlos 
     Herrera Acosta, Jose Ubaldo Izquierdo, Hector Maseda, Mario 
     Enrique Mayo, Jorge Olivera, Pablo Pacheco Avila, Fabio 
     Prieto Llorente, Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo, Raul Rivero 
     Castaneda, Omar Rodriguez Saludes, Omar Ruiz Hernandez, and 
     Manuel Vazquez Portal.

                        Pro-democracy Activists

       Osvaldo Alfonso, Nelson Aguilar, Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos, 
     Rafael Ernesto Avila Perez, Margarito Broche Espinosa, 
     Marcelo Cano, Eduardo Diaz Fleites, Antonio Diaz Sanchez, 
     Alfredo Dominguez Batista, Efren Fernandez, Jose Daniel 
     Ferrer Castillo, Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia, Oscar Elias 
     Biscet, Orlando Fundora, Alfredo Felipe Fuentes, Prospero 
     Gainza, Javier Garcia Perez, Diosdado Gonzalez Marreero, 
     Lester Gonzalez Penton, Jorge Luis Gonzalez Tanquero, Ivan 
     Hernandez Carrillo, Regis Iglesias, Rolando Jimenez Posada, 
     Reynaldo Labrada Pena, Librado Linares, Jose Miguel Martinez 
     Hernandez, and Rafael Millet.
       Luis Milan Fernandez, Roberto de Miranda, Nelson Moline, 
     Angel Moya Acosta, Felix Navarro, Hector Palacios Ruiz, 
     Arturo Perez de Alejo, Omar Pernet Hernandez, Horacio Julio 
     Pina Borrego, Alfredo Pulido, Arnaldo Ramos Laubiriquet, 
     Alexis Rodriguez Fernandez, Blas G. Rodriguez Reyes, Martha 
     Beatriz Roque Cabello, Claro Sanchez Altarriba, Ariel Sigler 
     Amaya, Guido Sigler Amaya, Miguel Sigler Amaya, Ricardo Silva 
     Gual, Fidel Suarez Cruz, Manuel Ubals Gonzalez, Julio Antonio 
     Valdes Guerra, Miguel Valdes Tamayo, Hector Raul Valle 
     Hernandez, Antonio A. Villarreal Acosta, and Orlando Zapata 
     Tamayo.

  Mr. Speaker, without any doubt, Martha Beatriz Roque, of the pro-
democracy activists who have been rounded up in this Stalinist 
crackdown in the last 2 weeks, she is the best known, an economist by 
trade and a very erudite intellectual. Martha Beatriz was rounded up 
and thrown in the dungeon along with these 80 other pro-democracy 
activists, and today her summary trial began. Apparently it is set to 
end tomorrow.
  The Castro regime's prosecutors are requesting life imprisonment for 
this woman, this economist who simply writes and speaks on behalf of 
freedom and democracy and analyzes economic conditions, and engages in 
that kind of work. The indictment does not contradict the fact that her 
work is peaceful, the so-called indictment because it is really a 
farce. It would be laughable if we were not dealing with the tragic 
situation of a people who have had to be subjected to 44 years of 
totalitarianism led by a Stalinist dictator.

                              {time}  2340

  The indictment charges Marta Beatriz Roque with possessing a 
computer, possessing a Web page on her computer, utilizing a server for 
her Web page in the United States of America. By way of the Web page, 
the indictment continues, Marta Beatriz Roque established links with 
entities in the United States. The accused, Marta Beatriz Roque, 
numerous times spoke on Radio Marti. The accused, Marta Beatriz Roque, 
published an article in a dissident magazine known as ``Enquentro.'' 
The accused, Marta Beatriz Roque, was visited in her residence by the 
head of the United States Diplomatic Mission. The accused, Marta 
Beatriz Roque, possessed in her residence, the indictment continues, a 
Cannon copier and a Panasonic fax machine. The accused, Marta Beatriz 
Roque, had communications with the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart. The accused must be sentenced 
pursuant to this indictment, pursuant to the request of the prosecution 
in the totalitarian state to life imprisonment for what she is being 
accused of.
  That is what the Cuban people are subjected to, Mr. Speaker. 
Obviously, we see that the international community is beginning despite 
the fact that, naturally so, the attention has been on the liberation 
of Iraq, despite the fact that the dictator chose this moment to act, 
to attempt to wipe out an entire generation of leaders that will be the 
leaders of democratic Cuba. The international community is beginning to 
react. The European Union that had recently declared that it would 
accept the Cuban dictatorship in its international aid agreement, its 
foreign aid agreement, has now said that it will not continue to do so. 
The Cuban ambassador in London, I read today, was called in for an 
explanation by the Foreign Ministry in London. Publications, editorial 
boards, and I think it is just, it is only just and fair and 
appropriate to admit that publications, editorial boards with which I, 
for example, have had profound differences on many issues over the 
past, a number of them have come around and have seen that this 
totalitarian crackdown cannot be treated as business as usual; and thus 
business as usual must not be able to take place now with that 
dictatorship.
  For example, the Los Angeles Times last week talking about the 
crackdown even before these sentences were requested, these barbaric 
Stalinist sentences. The Los Angeles Times ended its editorial last 
week saying before Congress even thinks about loosening restrictions, 
it should demand that Castro free those rounded up this month and 
demonstrate that his nation is moving toward democracy and away from 
totalitarianism, the Los Angeles Times, a newspaper that admittedly has 
had a different position in the past. And I must admit this 
demonstrates intellectual honesty and good faith by the editorial board 
of the Los Angeles Times.
  The Washington Post today talks about the fear that obviously the 
dictator is demonstrating because, yes, he chose this moment; and then 
The Washington Post says there are signs of deeper reasons besides just 
the diversion of attention that Iraq signifies.
  Over the past 2 weeks, The Washington Post of today says, there have 
been two skyjackings and a ferry hijacking in Havana. In all cases, the 
apparently well-armed hijackers wanted to be taken immediately to Miami 
or Key West, also the recent destination of a Cuban Government patrol 
boat.
  The normally placid Cuban Church has recently blasted the regime, and 
the economy is in crisis. Perhaps Fidel Castro is more worried about 
the growth of opposition to his regime than he wants to let on, and 
perhaps this is not the moment for the U.S. Government to drop the 
ball, ease the pressure, or allow Cuba to pretend that the country's 
multiple problems are anything but self-inflicted. The Washington Post. 
I think that it is important and relevant to point this out and 
appreciate it.
  I appreciate my colleagues being here. We have 15 minutes remaining, 
and I know we will be back on Tuesday,

[[Page H2817]]

but I so much appreciate their being here also this evening, the 
distinguished gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart).
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) for yielding to me in this special moment for 
the people of Cuba.
  It is with a heavy heart that my colleagues from south Florida and I 
stand here today because, while we are filled with hope and 
satisfaction about the liberation of the Iraqi people from the 
repressive regime of Saddam Hussein, at the same time our hearts bleed 
and weep for our brothers and sisters enslaved and oppressed in Cuba 
because the brutal tyrannical regime of Fidel Castro has used the cover 
of military action in Iraq to launch, as my colleague from south 
Florida clearly pointed out, one of the most intense crackdowns against 
dissidents in recent years. Castro's security agents have been storming 
into homes across the island, confiscating typewriters, books, papers 
from dissidents' homes, and rounding up almost 100 pro-democracy 
activists and independent journalists. And what have been their so-
called crimes? Engaging in supposedly threatening activities such as 
possessing and lending books by such authors as Vaclac Havel, Mahatma 
Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Arrested have been valiant freedom fighters such as Marta Beatriz 
Roque, an economist by trade who has already served time in Castro's 
gulags for her role in a publication that sought to take back the 
rights of all of the Cuban people, by underscoring that the ``Homeland 
Belongs to All, La Patria es de Todos.''
  Another arrested, Raul Rivero, perhaps Cuba's most prominent 
independent journalist; Reformist Hector Palacios; labor leader Pedro 
Pablo Alvarez Ramos. And my colleague had entered into the Record all 
of their names, as far as we know; and the list is growing every day. 
And their sentences: Osvaldo Alfonso Valdes, life sentence; Jorge 
Olivera Castillo, 15 years; Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso, life sentence; 
Orlando Fundora Alvarez, 15 to 25 years. Life sentences, 15 years, 25 
years for possession of papers.
  And these brave souls that are listed in these pages are just a few 
of the victims of the most recent wave of terrorism and repression. 
Many of the dissidents are being tortured. The summary sentences range 
from 15 years to execution, all in an attempt to intimidate by 
submission and silence those who oppose the regime's tyrannical rule. 
However, as Claudia Marquez, the wife of jailed dissident Osvaldo 
Alfonso, has emphasized, she said: ``Our voices and cries will not be 
silenced, even if our only weapon is our statements.''
  With every arrest the opposition is strengthened, not weakened. With 
each beating their mission becomes clear. They are willing to make the 
ultimate sacrifice if it means an end to tyranny, for they know that 
their blood and their tears fertilize the roots of democracy which are 
taking hold in our native Cuba.

                              {time}  2350

  They will not be deterred. Let us not ignore their cries, cries 
emanating just 90 miles off our shores. This crackdown is a direct 
challenge to the United States and to the international community.
  The regime assumed that we were all too busy with Iraq to care about 
the suffering of the Cuban people. Well, the dictatorship made a grave 
mistake. The European Union issued a statement condemning the arrest 
and demanding that these prisoners of conscience be immediately 
released. Amnesty International urged Cuba to release all of its 
prisoners of conscience and reform the laws which make such detentions 
possible. Human Rights International, the American Society of Newspaper 
Editors, the Inter-American Press Association have all denounced the 
crackdowns; and newspapers, as pointed out by the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart), in the Los Angeles Times, they have 
published editorials saying, ``After years of calling for liberalized 
relations with Cuba, this editorial page must now urge American 
policymakers to hit the brakes.''
  So rather than focusing on rewarding the Castro regime by loosening 
U.S. restrictions, all of us in the U.S. Congress should demand that 
Castro free all of the pro-democracy activists who have been arrested 
in the last few weeks, along with all prisoners of conscience.
  We must demand respect for human rights and freedom for the Cuban 
people. We have done it before. We did it for the iron grip, for the 
former Soviet Union. We did it for the people in Kosovo, for the people 
in Bosnia. We did it for the Haitian people. We supported the Afghan 
people in their struggle, and we are now working to liberate the Iraqi 
people. But after more than 40 years of enslavement and subjugation, 
the U.S. Congress, with a single voice but one which will be heard 
around the world, must speak out against these atrocities and the gross 
violations committed by the Castro dictatorship, because the Cuban 
people deserve no less. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the 
gentlewoman. Her words were eloquent, as always, and so appropriate. I 
would like to yield at this time to our other distinguished colleague 
from South Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart).
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman 
from Florida for this opportunity.
  I was listening to our distinguished colleague, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), talk about the sentences, these horrendous, 
long prison sentences to these human beings. Why are they going to 
prison? It sounds like a cruel joke. They are going to prison because 
they own a fax machine. They are going to prison because they own a 
copy machine. They are going to prison because they have the audacity 
of owning a computer. They are going to prison because how could they 
dare put up a Web page, a Web page that expresses what? Love for 
freedom. That is why they have been sentenced to prison. People who are 
nonviolent, people who want just one thing: freedom. Because they have 
the audacity to speak up and say that they want to be free and they 
want their people to be free, they get sentences of life imprisonment. 
Is that a cruel joke?
  At the same time there are brave men and women who are giving their 
lives for freedom, just 90 miles from our shores we have another 
dictator taking away people's freedoms, putting them in prison because 
they own a fax machine and because they have the audacity to own a 
printer, a copier, or to have a Web page.
  The world will not sit quietly. The world will not pretend this is 
not happening. We must all now speak up with one voice. We must all 
speak up against permitting this insanity by this insane human being 
just 90 miles away from our shores from taking place. Again, we will 
not forget these people. We will not tolerate their incarceration. We 
will not stop until they are freed, and we will insist that the entire 
world, starting with this body, the Congress of the United States, we 
will insist that every single one of us say to that dictator, we will 
not tolerate it. We will provide and put all of the pressure necessary 
to make sure that these people go free and that everybody on that 
island will one day very soon get rid of that nightmare, that 
horrendous nightmare that the world knows as Fidel Castro.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank both of my 
colleagues.
  One week ago, the President of the United States, despite the fact 
that he is leading as Commander in Chief Operation Iraqi Freedom, with 
all the complexities that that has entailed and the attention that that 
has required, the President of the United States a week ago sent a 
letter to one of the most prestigious political prisoners in Cuba, a 
prisoner of conscience, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, and the President wrote 
in this letter to Dr. Biscet at Combinado del Este Prison where he is 
currently imprisoned:
  ``Dear Dr. Biscet: Congratulations on your recognition by the 
International Republican Institute with its first Democracy's People 
Award.

  ``Your work and your example are the embodiment of democratic values, 
including self-determination, free expression, and liberty. I applaud 
your courageous and dignified struggle for

[[Page H2818]]

human rights and to bring freedom to all Cubans.
  ``Laura and I continue to pray for your health and that of the many 
political prisoners held unjustly in your country.
  ``Sincerely, George W. Bush.''
  The President sent this letter. Obviously, Castro cannot stand the 
fact that a Cuban would receive such an honor as a letter of this type 
from the President of the United States.
  Well, Dr. Biscet's trial, after having languished for month after 
month after month, without being even charged, his summary trial has 
been announced for commencement and perhaps for finishing, for 
termination on Monday. And there are reports that Castro's prosecutor 
will either ask for the death penalty for Dr. Biscet or, in an act of 
great totalitarian mercy, request life imprisonment.
  This cannot continue. This cannot continue and the Cuban people 
cannot continue, as the gentleman stated, in this nightmare.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will 
yield, I imagine that now the Members of this body who may be well 
intentioned thought that we should do business as usual, as the 
gentleman well stated, with that dictator, will now realize that Castro 
is what he is. He is an assassin, he is a thug, he is a murderer, and 
he jails people for having computers in their homes.
  So I would imagine and, of course, encourage everybody in this body 
to now join us, join the President of the United States, join the 
European Community in condemning this dictatorship and also making sure 
that we put pressure by applying every possible sanction possible to 
make sure that this nightmare goes away.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank my 
colleagues for being here this evening. We will come back next week. I 
know that the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) has been 
working hard, and we have been working along with her, on precisely a 
resolution to condemn this Stalinist crackdown on the peaceful pro-
democracy movement in Cuba 90 miles from our shores in the strongest 
possible terms by this House of Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, I will include for the Record the letter sent by 
President Bush to Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet that I previously referred to.
  Mr. Speaker, we shall return.

                                        President, George W. Bush,
                                                   March 26, 2003.
     Dr. Oscasr Elias Biscet,
     Combinado del Este Prison,
     La Habana, Cuba.
       Dear Dr. Biscet: Congratulations on your recognition by the 
     International Republican Institute with its first Democracy's 
     People Award.
       Your work and your example are the embodiment of democratic 
     values, including self-determination, free expression, and 
     liberty. I applaud your courageous and dignified struggle for 
     human rights and to bring freedom to all Cubans.
       Laura and I continue to pray for your health, and that of 
     the many political prisoners held unjustly in your country.
           Sincerely,
     George W. Bush.

                          ____________________