[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 88 (Tuesday, June 28, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H5262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ALLOW SGT. CARLOS LAZO INTO CUBA

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the case 
of Carlos Lazo. Sergeant Lazo has served our country honorably in Iraq. 
There has been a lot of talk about our soldiers in Iraq today. This 
sergeant returned from Iraq a while ago and wanted to visit his two 
children in Cuba. Carlos is a Cuban American who escaped that country 
on a raft several years ago.
  He would like to go back, but our government will not let him. You 
see, he has visited Cuba once in the past 3 years, and that is all you 
are allowed under current policy. So this soldier, who received a 
Bronze Star in Iraq for his service and many other accolades, is not 
trusted by our government to visit his own family in Cuba.
  This policy is wrong. The same policy prohibits a child with parents 
in Cuba from visiting them more than once every 3 years. So if your 
father dies one year, you go to his funeral. If your mother dies the 
next year, you cannot go to hers. How is that fair? Why is our 
government doing this?
  We need to change this policy, Madam Speaker, and this week we may 
have an opportunity to do so. I would encourage my colleagues to join 
me in this endeavor.

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