[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 80 (Wednesday, June 9, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              FREEDOM FOR JOSE UBALDO IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 9, 2004

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Jose Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernandez, a prisoner of conscience 
in totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Izquierdo Hernandez is a peaceful pro-democracy activist who has 
worked for basic human rights for the people of Cuba. As a 
correspondent for the Decorum Task Force and the operator of the 
private ``Sebastian Arcos Bergnes'' Library, he devoted his energies to 
depicting the true, decrepit, reality of totalitarian Cuba.
  Because he bravely defied the communist regime as he worked to bring 
freedom to Cuba, Mr. Izquierdo Hernandez was constantly harassed by the 
tyrant's thugs. According to Amnesty International, on March 8, 2002, 
he was arrested on his way to participate in an event connected with 
International Women's Day. His house was stoned the same night. Amnesty 
International also reports that on December 4, 2002, Mr. Izquierdo 
Hernandez was threatened with imprisonment if he attended an event 
honoring the Virgin of Santa Barbara.
  On March 18, as part of the unconscionable crackdown on peaceful pro-
democracy activists in March 2003, Mr. Izquierdo Hernandez was 
arrested. In a sham trial, he was subsequently sentenced to 16 years in 
the totalitarian gulag.
  Reporters Without Borders reports that on June 27, 2003, Mr. 
Izquierdo Hernandez fell down a stairway with no banister as prison 
guards escorted him to a courtyard. The fall resulted in head wounds 
and two wrist fractures. Let us be very clear, Mr. Izquierdo Hernandez 
is suffering, and has suffered serious injury, in the infernal, 
inhuman, gulag, because he desires freedom for his country.
  This week we mourn the passing of President Ronald Reagan, a man who 
knew that freedom is the birthright of all mankind. As we remember the 
President who made freedom and democracy for all the objective of U.S. 
foreign policy, let us not forget those, such as Mr. Izquierdo 
Hernandez, who currently languish in the darkness of repression.
  Mr. Speaker, it is categorically unacceptable that peaceful pro-
democracy activists are locked in dark gulags because they believe that 
freedom is the essential right of man. My Colleagues, we must demand 
the immediate release of Jose Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernandez, and every 
prisoner of conscience throughout the world.

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