[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 35 (Sunday, March 20, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                STANDING WITH CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Sunday, March 20, 2005

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues to send a 
strong message to the Cuban government that the United States will not 
forget those people who are languishing in Cuban prisons for the so-
called crime of speaking out against the injustices perpetrated by the 
Castro regime. We cannot ignore Castro and we cannot relieve the 
pressure on the regime. We owe it to the thousands of Cubans 
languishing in jails to further open the eyes of the world community to 
the true evils of the Castro regime.
  I rise to bring to light the injustices against a 61-year old 
scholar, intellectual, and decent free-thinking man--Hector Palacios 
Ruiz. Director of the unofficial Centro de Estudios Sociales, Center of 
Social Studies, and secretary of the reporting committee of the ``Todos 
Unidos,'' ``All United,'' coalition, Hector Palacios was detained on 
March 20, 2003 and subsequently tried in Havana. He was convicted under 
Castro's barbaric Penal Code and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
  And what were Hector Palacios' crimes? He was accused, among other 
activities, of having in his home an independent library containing 
books the Cuban government claims are ``subversive and 
counterrevolutionary.''
  Hector Palacios's wife, Gisela, was refused permission to visit him 
in May and threatened with imprisonment if she participated in public 
demonstrations on his behalf.
  Before the crackdown in 2003, Hector Palacios was arrested in 1994, 
1997 and 1999 for his activism and his courage to speak out against the 
crimes and injustices of the Castro regime. The persecution of this 
brave Cuban man is an outrage. Thrown behind bars, Hector Palacios and 
other political activists are feared by the Castro regime which outlaws 
freedom and truth. The brutality must stop. Freedom for Cuba's 
political prisoners must be our goal.

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