[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 97 (Friday, July 21, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1481]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  FREEDOM FOR VIRGILIO MANTILLA ARANGO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 20, 2006

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Virgilio Mantilla Arango, a political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba. Mr. Mantilla Arango is a pro-democracy leader in 
totalitarian Cuba. Because of his steadfast conviction in human liberty 
and his constant work to bring freedom to an island enslaved by the 
nightmare that is the Castro regime, he has been a constant target of 
the dictatorship.
  According to multiple reports, Mr. Mantilla Arango was arrested on 
March 4, 2002, for peacefully protesting at a provincial hospital. The 
reports outline how, at the hospital, the group shouted ``Long live 
human rights'' and sat on the floor. After 2 years in the gulag, and 
after a sham trial in April 2004, Human Rights Watch reports that Mr. 
Mantilla Arango was ``sentenced'' to 7 years in the totalitarian gulag. 
The ``sentence'' included 4 years for his participation in the March 
2002 protest and 3 years for continuing to peacefully protest against 
the nightmare that is the Castro regime during his time in the gulag 
before his ``trial.''
  The U.S. Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights 
Practices--2005, describes the deplorable conditions in the 
totalitarian gulag as, ``harsh and life threatening.'' Sadly, this is 
all too true for Mr. Mantilla Arango. According to reports published on 
Net For Cuba, Mr. Mantilla Arango has suffered savage beatings by 
dictatorship thugs for denouncing the tyranny and hanging signs above 
his bed that say ``Down with Fidel'' and ``We Need Freedom.'' In July, 
Mr. Mantilla Arango informed the Cuban Human Rights Foundation that he 
has been in brutal, solitary confinement since putting on a T-shirt 
last month that carried the words, ``Down with Fidel.''
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. Mantilla Arango is the face of the real Cuba. No 
matter how intense the beatings, no matter how remorseless the 
repression, no matter how inhumane the conditions, he will never relent 
in his belief that the people of Cuba should be and will be free.
  Mr. Speaker, it is as inconceivable as it is unacceptable that, in 
the 21st century and only 90 miles from our shore, brave men and women 
are locked in grotesque dungeons because they believe that all people 
have basic human rights. It is a profound embarrassment for mankind 
that the world stands by in silence and acquiescence while political 
prisoners are systematically tortured because of their belief in 
freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. My colleagues, we 
must demand the immediate and unconditional release of Virgilio 
Mantilla Arango and every political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.

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