[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 81 (Friday, June 17, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                FREEDOM FOR ALFREDO MANUEL PULIDO LOPEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 17, 2005

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Alfredo Manuel Pulido Lopez, a political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Pulido Lopez is a dentist, an independent journalist and a member 
of the Christian Liberation Movement. He believes in writing and 
speaking the truth about the nightmare that is the Castro regime. As a 
dentist, trained in protecting and nurturing human life, he could not 
tolerate the tyrant's incessant abuse of Cuban people. He understood 
the human condition and he knew that freedom is infinitely superior to 
the ills of tyranny and repression.
  On March 18, 2003, as part of the dictator's condemnable crackdown on 
peaceful pro-democracy activists, Mr. Pulido Lopez was arrested because 
of his belief in liberty over repression. In a sham trial, he was 
sentenced to 14 years in the inhuman, totalitarian gulag.
  Mr. Pulido Lopez' wife, Rebeca Rodriguez, described the abhorrent 
treatment of her husband in a phone call with Reporters Without 
Borders. She said:

       My husband has 11 ailments, seven of them chronic. They 
     include high blood pressure, liver problems, malnutrition and 
     migraines aggravated by cervical osteoporosis. He has 
     permanent bronchitis which affects his breathing and gastric 
     problems that are the cause of rectal bleeding. I don't know 
     all of the problems. The prison officials know. But my 
     husband has not been hospitalized since August 2004. He is in 
     a critical condition and that's the price paid by all those 
     who have wanted to defend human rights in Cuba.

  Reporters Without Borders also reports that Mr. Pulido Lopez he has 
been placed in solitary confinement. According to the Department of 
State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004, he has been 
``held in `punishment cells,' which usually were located in the 
basement of a prison, with continuous semi dark conditions, no 
available water, and a hole for a toilet.'' This is in addition to the 
grotesque depravity of the gulag that also includes beatings, 
isolation, denial of medical treatment to detainees and other forms of 
condemnable abuse.
  Mr. Pulido Lopez is a brilliant example of the heroism of the Cuban 
people. No matter how horrifically brutal the consequences of a 
dignified struggle for liberty, the totalitarian dungeons are full of 
men and women of all backgrounds and ages who represent the best of the 
Cuban nation.
  Mr. Speaker, we must speak out and act against this 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 Alfredo Manuel Pulido Lopez and every 
political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.

                          ____________________