[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 104 (Tuesday, August 1, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S8541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ENSIGN (for himself, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. Coleman, 
        Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Santorum, and Mr. Frist):
  S. 3769. A bill to encourage multilateral cooperation and authorize a 
program of assistance to facilitate a peaceful transition in Cuba, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, at long last, Fidel Castro's reign of 
terror over the Cuban people may be coming to an end. Fidel Castro is 
incapacitated. He has handed over control of the government to his 
brother, Raul. The Cuban Government wants us to believe that it is a 
temporary measure--that Castro just needs to recuperate from surgery. 
But we don't know the truth--we can't know the truth, because lies are 
the byproduct of tyranny. And tyrannies are notoriously opaque. For all 
we know, it may be that Fidel already has already spent his last day as 
Cuba's leader.
  I believe that now is the time for the U.S. Government to push for a 
peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba. It is a travesty that more 
than a decade after the cold war ended, a brutal communist dictatorship 
is still oppressing people 90 miles from our border. It would be an 
even greater travesty if the United States did not do everything in our 
power to ensure that after Fidel leaves power--one way or another--Cuba 
becomes free.
  Let's join together in support of the Cuban people and in support of 
freedom, and let's adopt this bill.
  We need to send a signal to all the dissidents and political 
prisoners in Cuba that we have no illusions about the nature of Fidel 
Castro's regime--that we know of their plight and stand ready to help 
them. When Ronald Reagan called Russia the ``evil empire,'' it brought 
hope to the dissidents and political prisoners in the Soviet gulags. 
They knew that the people and leaders of the United States were united 
with them. They were not alone.
  That is why I am introducing a bill today that authorizes assistance 
to the OAS for Cuba human rights activities and election reform. It 
also authorizes a fund to support independent civil society-building 
efforts. That includes assistance to political prisoners and their 
families, other dissidents, independent libraries, youth organizations, 
workers' rights activists, agricultural cooperatives, associations of 
the self-employed, journalists, economists, and medical doctors. And it 
creates the ``Fund for a Free Cuba'' to provide assistance to a 
transition government in Cuba.
  This bill is consistent with the recommendations in the July 2006 
Commission for Assistance for a Free Cuba report. We need to move this 
legislation now, when it can have the biggest impact. The people of 
Cuba are watching and listening. We need to show them that the leaders 
of the United States are willing to join them in their quest to be 
free. They need to know that they are not alone.
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