[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 15, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FREEDOM FOR ROLANDO JIMENEZ POSADA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 15, 2007

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Rolando Jimenez Posada, a political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Jimenez Posada is a lawyer and a director of the Democratic Human 
Rights Center. As a pro-democracy activist, Mr. Jimenez Posada has 
devoted himself to portraying the genuine terror of life in 
totalitarian Cuba. Because of his brave commitment to freedom for the 
Cuban people and his activities as a pro-democracy activist, the regime 
began by firing him from his job.
  Mr. Jimenez Posada has been detained and threatened numerous times 
over the past years. On December 10, 2001, while taking part in a 
peaceful celebration to observe the anniversary of the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights, he and several others were beaten and 
pushed into police vehicles and then discarded in remote areas as a 
means of psychological torture. Amnesty International reports that in 
July 2002 Mr. Jimenez Posada was threatened at his home after handing 
out copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later, the 
tyrant's thugs told him that he would be imprisoned if he continued 
carrying out public activities in support of Cuba's political 
prisoners.
  Despite harassment and the continuous threats, Mr. Jimenez Posada 
never wavered in his conviction. On April 25, 2003, he was arrested and 
thrown in the gulag on accusations of ``disrespecting the commander'' 
(the tyrant) and ``revealing state secrets''. For 4 years, he 
languished in sub-human conditions awaiting ``formal charges'' and a 
``trial'' for his ``crime'' of believing that all men have an inherent 
right to live in freedom.
  On April 6, 2007, Mr. Jimenez Posada was ``sentenced'' to 12 years in 
a second secret trial in less than a week. His family and loved ones 
were never notified of his trial date, and when he even so much as 
attempted to voice concerns about the lack of defense counsel he was 
summarily thrown into a dungeon once again and prohibited all forms of 
legal defense. Let me be clear, Mr. Jimenez Posada rejects the gangster 
regime's constant propaganda and its lies. For that reason, he 
languishes in the most infernal conditions in the tyrant's dungeons.
  Madam Speaker, Mr. Jimenez Posada suffers in the repulsive squalor of 
the totalitarian regime's gulag because he believes in truth and 
fundamental human rights for the Cuban people. It constitutes a crime 
of the highest order that a mere 90 miles from our shores, honorable 
men and women are jailed in dungeons simply for their desire to make 
known the truth of Cuba's tragic reality and for believing that all 
Cubans are deserving of human rights. My colleagues, we must demand the 
immediate and unconditional release of Rolando Jimenez Posada and every 
political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.

                          ____________________