[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 162 (Wednesday, October 24, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13319-S13321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CUBA
Mr. MARTINEZ. Madam President, in the last couple of hours, the
President took the opportunity to speak at the State Department on the
condition of relations between the United States and Cuba. For me, as
an immigrant from Cuba, born on that island and an immigrant to this
country, it was a very moving and transcending kind of moment. The
President, for the first time, I think, in many years that any American
President might do this, detailed the problems in Cuba and the cruelty
of that regime toward its own people.
The President put a human face on the suffering of the Cuban people
by inviting to the stage with him three families of Cuban political
prisoners. These families, each with their own tale of hardship and
suffering, were representatives of what I think is the now almost half
century long suffering of the Cuban people. He spoke about their
plight, the unjust nature of their relatives' incarceration, which is
nothing more than a representative sampling of what the Cuban people
have suffered over so many years of brutal repression.
He also detailed the many failed promises of the Cuban revolution
toward its own people. He spoke of the failed promises; that the
revolution would bring a better life and so many other things that have
simply not occurred. He detailed frankly, the economic misery the Cuban
people suffer from today, the fact that housing is deplorable and
difficult and that many families have to, obviously, live together. He
spoke about the irony that while the Cuban system touts the greatness
of their medical prowess; in fact the Cuban people do not have access
to the kind of quality medical care that medical tourists can obtain.
Just as an anecdote, sitting next to me was a foreign diplomat who
mentioned to me that she had been to Cuba for eye surgery some years
earlier. I mentioned to her that at about that same time--I think she
said that was in 1992--I had a relative, an uncle of mine, whom we had
brought to this country so he could have eye surgery here because he
couldn't get it in Cuba. So foreign visitors, for dollar amounts, can
get first-rate medical care in Cuba, but it is not always available to
the Cuban people.
He spoke about the oppression of those who seek to be a voice for
change and the fact that many of those in prison, these patriots, are
in prison for nothing more than having a fax machine in their home or a
willingness to speak and talk about the human rights conditions on the
island. The fact is that each of these brave souls takes great risk in
order to facilitate the opportunity for Cubans to speak to one another,
for the opportunity to speak in freedom, the opportunity to freely
express an idea. These are things which are abhorrent to the Cuban
regime.
The President made an offer. He made an offer that the United States,
through non-governmental organizations and religious entities, would
send computers and provide Internet access to the Cuban people, if only
the Cuban Government would allow the average, everyday Cuban--what
today is part of international trade, commerce, and communications--
Internet access. Internet access in Cuba today is only allowed under
the strictest of Government authority, and it is a way in which the
Cuban people are held back from achieving the promise that the 21st
century has for so many people, in so many other places.
He also spoke about the opportunity for Cuban children to be a part
of a scholarship program and all they would have to do is to be freely
allowed to participate.
He spoke to the international community using the example of the
Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, which have, with such
determination, stood clearly on the side of freedom, stood clearly on
the side of those in Cuba
[[Page S13320]]
who are not satisfied with the current conditions but look to the
moment of their liberty, look to the moment of freedom. These new
democracies in Europe, who still well remember the days of their
oppression at the hands of another Communist dictator, are very much
involved in helping the Cuban dissident movement, in allowing them to
come to their embassies and just stand in their lobbies and have access
to a magazine or a newspaper or a book that would otherwise not be
permitted by the Cuban authorities.
We can all do more. The United States has been at the forefront of
assistance to a free Cuba, but no doubt many other countries, many
other capitals across the world could well heed the example these
Eastern European governments are today giving to the rest of the world
as they stand clearly on the side of freedom.
The fact is that the most important take-away, if you will, that I
heard today in this very moving, emotional, and I thought historic
speech was the fact that the President today said that in the future of
Cuba, we should be clearly on the side of freedom and not on the side
of stability.
You see, the Cuban people are in the throes of change. Change is
happening on that imprisoned island today, and that change can take one
of several forms. One of them would be for us to side with stability
and more of the same, for the sake of stability. The other would be to
chart that uncertain path that freedom often brings but a path that
ultimately leads to the opportunity for free people to live freely,
that opportunity to simply stand in a town square and speak your mind.
So often people ask me: Have you ever been back to Cuba?
And I say: No.
They ask: Will you ever go back?
And I say: Yes, I will go back the day I can stand in the park of my
little town where I grew up, in Sagua La Grande, Cuba, and stand there
and freely express my thoughts or the day I can pick up a book and read
it freely.
Those are the times and those are the conditions under which the
Cuban people will really begin to taste freedom.
All of Latin America today in one measure or another is moving to the
march of democratic governments and clearly enjoying the fruits of a
free market. The free-trade agreements currently pending with Latin
American countries will only continue to expand the wave of prosperity
that is today sweeping that continent. But one example remains, one
example of absolute tyranny, one example of an old-fashioned, brutal
military dictator, and that is Cuba.
The fact is, I do believe freedom is on the march and that freedom
can come to the Cuban people. I hope we can continue to encourage the
voices of freedom within the island.
The President spoke to the military, he spoke to the governmental
structures of the Cuban Government, and he pleaded with them to side
with the people of Cuba who seek to live free and not use the elements
of repression at a critical and decisive moment in the future of Cuba.
I have no doubt that many of those who today might have been, at one
time, supporters of the Cuban regime, who believed in the promises of
the revolution, as at one time or another all of us did, that they
would now understand that this failed system has a limited lifespan and
that it is time to side with the forces of freedom and not with the
forces of repression and tyranny. For those who have no blood on their
hands, they do have a future in a free Cuba.
One of the more touching moments today was when the President
discussed dissidents, such as Oscar Elias Biscet. Oscar Elias Biscet is
a physician who has been sentenced, to I believe 20 years, for merely
speaking and expressing his own beliefs and his desire to see a change
within Cuba. He is in deplorable conditions, in rat-infested
conditions, needing medical care and getting none. He is the face of
the future of Cuba. He is the face of the dissidents in Cuba. He is a
young man, born and raised under the Castro regime. He does not belong
to any rich families of the past. In fact, he happens to be an Afro-
Cuban. He is a physician. He believes in life at all stages, from
conception to death, and that was one of the big sins for which he has
been punished in Cuba.
So I would say that today is an important day in the history of U.S.
relations with Cuba. I hope it will also be a historic marker for the
future of the Cuban people. The President spoke about a popular song,
both in Cuba and outside, and it basically talks about ``our day is
coming.'' I don't think there is any doubt that the freedom of the
Cuban people is coming and that our day, without a doubt, is coming.
I look forward to continuing to help the dissident movement inside
Cuba in any way that we can, to continuing to help the voices of
freedom that so much yearn for an opportunity. I believe the President
made it clear that the standard by which we should judge our future
relations with Cuba is the way in which the Cuban Government treats its
own people; by releasing political prisoners, by allowing freedom of
expression, by allowing freedom of the press, and by ending these
despicable acts of repression or repudiation, which are nothing more
than a government-organized gang of neighbors ganging up on someone
who, for whatever reason, seems to be out of step with the orthodoxy of
the Government of the day. These are horrible beatings and harassment
that cut across age groups. It is not just about the head of the
household who has expressed himself in a way the Government deems
negative or maybe being guilty of that ill-defined crime of
dangerousness. But the children of that family suffer, the elderly, and
all of the members of any family who is chosen for these repudiation
acts. They all suffer. Those are despicable acts. Those have to end--
that kind of repression--and the freeing of political prisoners. These
simple things.
When people talk about what is going to be the future, the future is
in the hands of the Cuban people. I know the United States will stand
clearly on the side of freedom. That is, what makes our country so very
different and so very special, is the fact we do put freedom first;
that we do put a value on every human being, every human life, and the
dignity of each one; that we do understand there is a difference
between freedom and oppression and we choose to stand clearly on the
side of freedom.
I will always be proud to stand with our President, who so clearly
spoke today about his desire to stand on the side of freedom. I hope
many of my colleagues in the Senate will take the time to read the
speech the President gave today. If you care about Latin America, if
you care about Cuba, if you care about the future of that oppressed
island, I think this was a very good moment.
I see my dear colleague from New Jersey and fellow Cuban American
here on the Senate floor, and I know we share the same passion for the
opportunity for Cuba to be free. This isn't a partisan issue between
us; this is about the right of the Cuban people to live freely. I say
to Senator Menendez that it was a momentous speech and I think one that
will be a historic marker, as I said, in the relations between our
countries and the opportunity for the Cuban people to live in freedom.
I think it was an important moment, and I hope my colleague will have
an opportunity to see it and read it. It was the kind of speech so many
of us have wished for and were delighted to hear today.
Madam President, I appreciate the indulgence of the Chair, and I
yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey is recognized.
Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I come to the floor primarily to speak
about a vote we took earlier today on the DREAM Act. I do appreciate my
distinguished colleague from Florida's comments about the President's
speech. We look forward to getting a further focus on what the
President had to say. We certainly appreciate any movement, any policy
that tries to create an opportunity for freedom for the people of Cuba,
for them to be able to achieve what we enjoy here in the United
States--the right to choose our Representatives, to worship at the
altar that we chose freely, to be able to associate with others freely,
to be able to protest when we believe our Government is moving in the
wrong direction. We have freedom of the press, freedom of religion,
freedom of speech. All of those things are denied the Cuban people.
[[Page S13321]]
Certainly, the efforts the President speaks about, trying to move in
the direction that creates that moment in which those freedoms can be
fulfilled for the people of Cuba, we applaud.
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