[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 141 (Wednesday, October 8, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FREE FRANCISCO CHAVIANO GONZALEZ!

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 8, 2003

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
inform the Congress about a Cuban prisoner of conscience locked in 
Castro's gulag. This week I ask my colleagues to learn the name of 
Francisco Chaviano Gonzalez.
  The prevailing theme throughout the life of Mr. Chaviano Gonzalez is 
his desire to live in freedom. First, he attempted to flee Castro's 
dictatorship in March 1989, but was caught and sent to prison. While 
unjustly incarcerated for attempting to flee the Cuban dictatorship, 
Mr. Chaviano Gonzalez founded the Cuban Rafters Council.
  Upon Mr. Chaviano Gonzalez's release from prison, he and the Council 
began to document the list of people who have become unaccounted for in 
the treacherous Florida Straights as they sought refuge from Castro's 
repressive regime. Mr. Speaker, Mr Chaviano Gonzalez compiled a list of 
those who perished on their dangerous journey to freedom. The Council 
desired that these martyrs be known, that those who died pursuing 
freedom be remembered by those they left behind.
  As Mr. Chaviano Gonzalez began to understand how the repressive 
policies of Castro's ruthless regime propelled these refugees into the 
Florida Straights, he, and other members of the Council, decided to 
change the name of their organization to the National Council for Civil 
Rights in Cuba (NCCRC). Castro's machinery of repression took notice of 
this pro-democracy group and Mr. Chaviano Gonzalez was arrested on May 
7, 1994.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chaviano Gonzalez has been imprisoned in Castro's 
gulag since May 7, 1994. According to reports, Francisco Chaviano 
Gonzalez is in poor and deteriorating health after 9 years and 5 months 
in Castro's gulag. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chaviano Gonzalez has dedicated his 
life to the idea that the Cuban people should be free, and for that 
belief alone he has been imprisoned by Castro's tyranny since 1994.
  On October 2, 2002 Ernesto Roque published portions of a letter by 
Mr. Chaviano on the website CubaNet. The haunting words of this letter 
included the plea ``Humanity, don't forget us, they are killing us!'' 
Mr. Speaker, this Congress should never forget what happens each day in 
Castro's gulag; each day, Castro's machinery of repression is 
deliberately murdering Cuban citizens whose only crime is their desire 
for freedom.
  My Colleagues, we must stand up for those who seek freedom from 
tyranny. We must call now, and we must call everyday, for the release 
of Francisco Chaviano Gonzalez and all the prisoners of conscience 
dying for freedom in Castro's gulag.

                          ____________________