[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 52 (Thursday, May 4, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E729]
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

                         Thursday, May 4, 2006

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
remind my colleagues about Alfredo Manuel Pulido Lopex, a political 
prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.
  Dr. 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 prodemocracy activists, Dr. 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.
  On April 18, 2006, Dr. Pulido Lopez's wife Rebeca Rodriguez Sauto 
visited him and found that his health has significantly worsened. 
According to the report that she filed with Cubanet, Dr. Pulido Lopez 
is dangerously malnourished, deeply depressed and distraught. She 
reports that he is afflicted with chronic bronchitis and dark bruises 
of an unknown origin have appeared on his skin.
  Despite his seriously declining health, Dr. Pulido Lopez stated in 
the Cubanet report that he has no real reason to ask for a medical 
parole since he is an innocent man to begin with and what the 
dictatorship's officials really have to give him is freedom. He 
continued telling his wife, ``I am more firm in my convictions every 
day. I am not going to renounce them. They know that my health is 
affected. They can do what they want.''
  Dr. Pulido Lopez's commitment to freedom, in the face of declining 
health in the grotesque gulag, is a brilliant example of the heroism of 
the Cuban people. It is a crime against humanity that Castro's 
totalitarian gulags are full of men and women, like Dr. Pulido Lopez, 
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, before it is too late, we must 
demand the immediate and unconditional release of Alfredo Manuel Pulido 
Lopez and every political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.

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