[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 97 (Friday, June 27, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8847-S8848]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              REGARDING THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN CUBA

  The resolution (S. Res. 62) calling upon the Organization of American 
States (OAS) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United 
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union, and 
human rights activists throughout the world to take certain actions in 
regard to the human rights situation in Cuba, was considered and agreed 
to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                               S. Res. 62

       Whereas the democracies of the Western Hemisphere have 
     approved an Inter-American Democratic Charter that sets a 
     regional standard regarding respect for human rights and 
     fundamental freedoms;
       Whereas the government of the Republic of Cuba approved and 
     is bound to respect the Charter of the Organization of 
     American States (OAS) and the American Declaration of the 
     Rights and Duties of Man;
       Whereas in 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, and previous years, the 
     government of the Republic of Cuba declined to reply to the 
     OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights when it sought 
     the government's views on human rights violations in the 
     Republic of Cuba;
       Whereas all countries have an obligation to promote and 
     protect human rights and fundamental freedoms as stated in 
     the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal 
     Declaration of Human Rights;
       Whereas the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 
     considered and passed a resolution in 2002 regarding the 
     situation of human rights in the Republic of Cuba and called 
     for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to 
     send a personal representative to the Republic of Cuba;
       Whereas the United States and other countries remain 
     concerned about violations of human rights and fundamental 
     freedoms in the Republic of Cuba, including the freedoms of 
     expression, association, and assembly, and the rights 
     associated with the administration of justice;
       Whereas, according to the Department of State, Cuban 
     authorities use exile as a means of repression and continue 
     to harass, threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain, imprison, 
     and defame human rights advocates and members of independent 
     professional associations, including journalists, economists, 
     doctors, and lawyers with the goal of coercing them into 
     leaving the country;
       Whereas Cuban citizens are routinely jailed solely because 
     their views do not coincide with those of the government;
       Whereas Amnesty International in its 2002 report noted an 
     increase in human rights violations in the Republic of Cuba, 
     including short-term arbitrary arrests, threats, summonses, 
     evictions, interrogations, losses of employment, restrictions 
     on travel, house arrests, and other forms of harassment 
     directed by the government against political dissidents, 
     independent journalists, and other activists in an effort to 
     limit their ability to exercise fundamental freedoms;
       Whereas Amnesty International also noted with concern the 
     beginning of a trend toward the increased use of violence by 
     Cuban authorities in order to repress dissent;
       Whereas Cuban political prisoners are deliberately exposed 
     to harm and poor conditions as a means of punishment, 
     including beatings, denial of medical treatment, forced labor 
     against medical advice, unsanitary eating conditions, and 
     coexistence with inmates carrying highly infectious diseases;
       Whereas peaceful dissidents in the Republic of Cuba, such 
     as Oscar Elias Biscet, who upon finishing more than 3 years 
     in jail for ``instigation to commit a crime'' is again in 
     police custody and facing a possible year-long sentence, are 
     subjected to ongoing harassment and imprisonment;
       Whereas many Cubans, such as journalist Bernardo Arevalo 
     Padron, who is currently in jail serving a 6 year sentence, 
     are routinely jailed under the charge of ``disrespect'' for 
     making negative statements about the government of the 
     Republic of Cuba;
       Whereas many Cubans, such as Carlos Oquendo Rodriguez, who 
     is serving 2 years in prison, are routinely jailed under the 
     charge of ``public disorder'' for criticizing the Castro 
     regime;
       Whereas many Cubans, such as Francisco Chaviano Gonzalez, 
     the longest serving current Amnesty International prisoner of 
     conscience in the Republic of Cuba, are imprisoned on charges 
     of ``revealing state security secrets'' and ``falsifying 
     public documents'' for promoting democratic practices and 
     human rights;
       Whereas many Cubans, such as Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, a 
     blind lawyer and president of the Cuban Foundation for Human 
     Rights, are imprisoned on charges of ``disobedience'' and 
     tortured while incarcerated for peacefully protesting the 
     Republic of Cuba's brutal treatment of dissidents;
       Whereas many Cubans, such as Leonardo Miguel Bruzon Avila, 
     president of the 24th of February Movement (named for both a 
     turning point in the Spanish-American War and the day in 1996 
     when 2 civilian aircraft carrying 4 members of the Cuban 
     American Brothers to the Rescue movement were shot down over 
     international waters by Cuban fighter jets), are charged with 
     ``public disorder'' and held without trial for planning 
     peaceful public ceremonies;
       Whereas many Cubans, such as Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, who 
     is president of the Cuban Youth for Democracy Movement and 
     currently serving a 6 year prison sentence, are charged with 
     ``damages'' for denouncing violations of human rights by the 
     Cuban government and communicating the brutality of the Cuban 
     regime to Cuban citizens and the world;
       Whereas many Cubans, such as Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, who 
     is a founder of the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoners 
     Movement and serving a 15 year prison sentence, are charged 
     with ``enemy propaganda'' and suffer systematic abuse and a 
     lack of medical assistance while in prison, for criticizing 
     communism;
       Whereas Amnesty International reports that participants in 
     Oswaldo Paya's Varela Project collecting the required 10,000 
     signatures on a petition for peaceful change to the legal 
     system of the Republic of Cuba have been harassed, detained, 
     subjected to confiscation of signed petitions, and ``kicked, 
     punched, and threatened'' by Cuban state security officials; 
     and
       Whereas the European Parliament rightfully recognized 
     Oswaldo Paya for his work on the Varela Project with the 2002 
     Sakharov Prize for his human rights work in the Republic of 
     Cuba: Now, therefore, be it
         Resolved, That the Senate calls upon--
         (1) the Organization of American States Inter-American 
     Commission on Human Rights to continue its reporting on the 
     human rights situation in the Republic of Cuba and to request 
     a visit to the Republic of Cuba for the purposes of reviewing 
     and reporting to the international community on the human 
     rights situation there;
         (2) the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 
     and his newly appointed personal representative to vigorously 
     pursue the implementation of the 2002 Resolution regarding 
     the situation of human rights in the Republic of Cuba;
         (3) the European Union, to build upon the European 
     Parliament's recognition of Cuban dissidents and, through the 
     appropriate bodies and mechanisms, request to visit the 
     Republic of Cuba for the purpose of reviewing the human 
     rights situation there and issue a report to the 
     international community on its findings; and

[[Page S8848]]

         (4) human rights organizations throughout the world to 
     issue statements of solidarity with the Cuban human rights 
     activists, political dissidents, prisoners of conscience, 
     independent journalists, and other Cubans seeking to secure 
     their internationally recognized human rights and fundamental 
     freedoms.

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