[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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