[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 114 (Thursday, September 14, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1729]]
                FREEDOM FOR JOSE MANUEL CARABALLO BRAVO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 14, 2006

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Jose Manuel Caraballo Bravo, a political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Caraballo Bravo is an independent journalist in totalitarian Cuba 
and has been a chronicler of truth amid the lies and deceit of the 
tyrant's villainous regime. Because of his belief in truth in print, 
truth for the people of Cuba and truth to enable the world to better 
comprehend the daily horrors of totalitarian Cuba, Mr. Caraballo Bravo 
was a target of the totalitarian regime.
  I remind my colleagues that, under Castro's totalitarian regime, any 
freedom of the press, any effort to display the atrocities of the 
regime under the spotlight of truth, is met with swift and violent 
repression. The courageous men and women, such as Mr. Caraballo Bravo, 
who write the truth are the enemies of Castro's totalitarian 
dictatorship.
  According to Reporters Without Borders, Mr. Caraballo Bravo was 
arrested just before the heinous crackdown of March 2003. Reporters 
Without Borders also reports that he was sentenced to three years in 
the totalitarian gulag for ``forging documents.''
  Let me be very clear, Mr. Caraballo Bravo is currently languishing in 
the depraved conditions of the totalitarian gulag for his truthful 
articles. The U.S. State Department describes the conditions in the 
gulag as, ``harsh and life threatening.'' The State Department also 
reports that police and prison officials beat, neglect, isolate, and 
deny medical treatment to detainees and prisoners. It is a crime of the 
highest order that people are imprisoned in these nightmarish 
conditions simply for reporting the facts.
  Mr. Caraballo Bravo is a brilliant example of the heroism of the 
Cuban people. Despite incessant repression, harassment, incarceration 
and abuse, he remains committed to the conviction that freedom of the 
press and democracy are inalienable rights of the Cuban people. Let us 
never forget and always support those who are struggling to liberate 
peoples from the grip of tyranny.
  Mr. Speaker, it is as inconceivable as it is unacceptable that, while 
the world stands by in silence and acquiescence, independent 
journalists who write the truth about totalitarian regimes are 
systematically tortured. In the 21st Century, it must no longer be 
acceptable for anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, to be locked 
in a gulag for writing the truth. My Colleagues, we must demand the 
immediate and unconditional release of Jose Manuel Caraballo Bravo.

                          ____________________