[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 28 (Thursday, March 10, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E415]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 FREEDOM FOR ANTONIO RAMON DIAZ SANCHEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 10, 2005

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Antonio Ramon Diaz Sanchez, a prisoner of conscience in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Diaz Sanchez is an electrician by profession. He is also a member 
of the Christian Liberation Movement. Mr. Diaz Sanchez is a peaceful 
activist in the cause of liberty who desires to exercise his basic 
human rights. Unfortunately, the nightmare that is the Castro regime 
continues to violently oppress the men and women of Cuba, including 
those that bravely illuminate the atrocities committed against the 
Cuban people for the world to see.
  Unfortunately, in March 2003, as part of the dictatorship's heinous 
crackdown on peaceful, pro-democracy activists, Mr. Diaz Sanchez was 
arrested. Simply because of his courageous pro-democracy activities, 
Mr. Diaz Sanchez was subjected to a sham trial where he was sentenced 
to 14 years in the totalitarian gulag.
  According to Amnesty International, Mr. Diaz Sanchez has continued to 
advocate for freedom and justice while locked in the hellish squalor of 
Castro's gulag. He has participated in two hunger strikes to draw 
attention to the depravity of the conditions that political prisoners 
are subjected to in the gulag: including denial of medical attention, 
beatings, and severe malnutrition. He has courageously risked harm to 
himself in order to bring a semblance of humane treatment to those 
confined in the horror that is the totalitarian gulag.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ramon Diaz Sanchez, is an electrician who now shines 
a light of dignity and courage on the abominable disregard for human 
rights, human dignity, and human freedom just 90 miles from our shore. 
My Colleagues, we must demand the immediate and unconditional release 
of Antonio Ramon Diaz Sanchez,, and every political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba.

                          ____________________