[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 99 (Friday, July 16, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1402]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1402]]
                FREEDOM FOR JULIO CESAR GALVEZ RODRIGUEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 15, 2004

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Julio Cesar Galvez Rodriguez, a prisoner of conscience in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Galvez Rodriguez is an independent journalist in a country 
oppressed by a regime that mandates official propaganda. According to 
Reporters Without Borders, Mr. Galvez Rodriguez was fired from his job 
in the ``official media'' because of his ties with the United Cuba 
Workers Council, an organization that advocates for workers rights in 
totalitarian Cuba. Because of his first hand experience with the 
tyrant's propaganda, he has worked to reveal the truth about the 
nightmare that is the Castro regime. Mr. Galvez Rodriguez has 
contributed to numerous publications including, El Nuevo Herald, Carta 
de Cuba and Cuba Nuestra.
  Unfortunately, being an independent journalist in a totalitarian 
society is a hazardous profession. Because the stark, poverty stricken, 
reality of Cuba does not agree with the dictator's propaganda, 
independent journalists are regularly harassed, threatened, and 
imprisoned. On March 19, 2003, as part of the tyrant's condemnable 
crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy activists, Mr. Galvez Rodriguez was 
arrested by the dictator's thugs.
  In a sham trial, Mr. Galvez Rodriguez was accused of ``subversive'' 
articles intended to ``undermine and internally destroy the 
Revolution.'' He was subsequently ``sentenced'' to 15 years in the 
inhuman gulag for his ``crime'' of truth. It is repugnant to the values 
of the civilized world that truth tellers are locked in heinous gulags 
on the whim of totalitarian tyrants.
  Amnesty International reports that Mr. Galvez Rodriguez is suffering 
from high blood pressure, renal and intestinal colic and cervical 
arthritis. Let us be very clear, he is deteriorating under abhorrent 
conditions because he believes in freedom for the Cuban people.
  Mr. Speaker, it is repulsive to the ideal of freedom that independent 
journalists are locked in totalitarian gulags 90 miles from our shore. 
My Colleagues, we must demand the immediate and unconditional freedom 
of Julio Cesar Galvez Rodriguez and every prisoner of conscience in 
totalitarian Cuba.

                          ____________________