[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 31 (Thursday, March 11, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FREEDOM FOR LUIS MILAN FERNANDEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 10, 2004

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Luis Milan Fernandez, a political prisoner in totalitarian 
Cuba.
  Dr. Milan Fernandez is a medical doctor by profession. He chose to 
dedicate his life to healing people; but, Dr. Milan Fernandez realized 
that the people of Cuba are in need of freedom as well as medicine. In 
June, 2001 he signed the Manifesto 2001, a document that protested the 
lack of basic freedoms in Cuba.
  Dr. Milan Fernandez continued to advocate for freedom for every Cuban 
when he joined the Independent Medical Association of Santiago. 
According to Amnesty International, he also joined fellow health 
professionals in a one-day hunger strike to call attention to the 
medical situation and other issues pertaining to the lack of freedom in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Because of his commitment to freedom for Cuba, Dr. Milan Fernandez 
was a victim of the dictator's brutal March 2003 crackdown on pro-
democracy activists. In a sham trial, Dr. Milan Fernandez was sentenced 
to 13 years in the totalitarian gulag.
  The U.S. State Department's 2003 Country Reports on Human Rights 
Practices describes conditions in the totalitarian gulag as
     . . . harsh and life threatening. . . . police and prison 
     officials often . . . beat, neglected, isolated, and denied 
     medical treatment to detainees and prisoners, including those 
     convicted of political crimes or those who persisted in 
     expressing their views . . . Detainees and prisoners, both 
     common and political, often were subjected to repeated, 
     vigorous interrogations designed to coerce them into signing 
     incriminating statements, to force collaboration with 
     authorities, or to intimidate victims. Some endured physical 
     and sexual abuse, typically by other inmates with the 
     acquiescence of guards, or long periods in punitive isolation 
     cells.
  Dr. Milan Fernandez is a brilliant example of the heroism of the 
Cuban people. No matter how fierce the repression, no matter how brutal 
the consequences of a dignified struggle for freedom, the prisons of 
Cuba are full of men and women of all backgrounds and ages who 
represent the best of the Cuban nation. Thousands languish in the gulag 
because they refuse to accept the current reality of nightmarish 
oppression in Cuba today.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. Milan Fernandez is languishing in the horror of the 
totalitarian gulag because he believes in freedom for the people of 
Cuba. My Colleagues, we must demand the immediate release of Luis Milan 
Fernandez and every prisoner of conscience suffering in the 
indescribable gulags of the nightmare called the Castro regime.

                          ____________________