[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 49 (Monday, March 23, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H3723-H3724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       JORGE LUIS GARCIA PEREZ ``ANTUNEZ,'' CUBAN FREEDOM FIGHTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. This last Friday, I had the honor 
of being able to speak by telephone with five brave human rights 
activists, pro-democracy leaders, inside the totalitarian nightmare 
that is Castro's Cuba.
  One of the great heroes of the pro-democracy movement inside the 
Cuban totalitarian nightmare is Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez. A 
black man now in his 40s, Antunez was first imprisoned while he was in 
high school because of his support for democracy and his opposition to 
totalitarianism. For 17 years, Antunez was regularly beaten as a 
political prisoner in Castro's gulag. He never gave in. He was released 
from the gulag last year, but since he never surrenders, he doesn't 
stop denouncing the thugs and pirates who have destroyed, impoverished 
and oppressed the Cuban people for 50 years, Antunez has been routinely 
detained, dozens of times, thrown into a dungeon and subsequently 
released, since his release from the gulag.
  Some days ago, Antunez began a hunger strike in his city of Placetas, 
in Sancti Spiritus province, Cuba, calling for the end of the death 
threats being leveled against Cuban political prisoner Mario Alberto 
Perez Aguilera; an end to the physical and psychological torture of all 
Cuban political prisoners; and the cruel and cynical prohibition by the 
dictatorship against Antunez's sister, Caridad Garcia Perez, being able 
to rebuild her own house. They don't allow her to rebuild her own 
house, which was destroyed by one of the devastating hurricanes that 
passed by Cuba.
  Accompanying the hero Antunez when I was able to contact him by 
telephone on Friday, March 19, was his wife, the pro-democracy leader, 
Iris Perez Aguilera, whose brother, Mario Alberto Perez Aguilera, is a 
political prisoner receiving death threats, I'm sure one of many, but 
the one specified by Antunez, receiving death threats by his jailers. 
And I also spoke to pro-democracy leaders, Carlos Michael Morales 
Rodriguez, Alejandro Tur Valladares and Ernesto Mederos. It was my 
honor to speak with all of them.
  Antunez's house was surrounded by state security thugs while we 
spoke. And he and his colleagues knew very well that our telephone 
conversation was being monitored by the thug-regime. The courage of 
these pro-democracy leaders is simply awe-inspiring. They all explained 
their human rights work and reiterated their commitment to freedom. I 
told Antunez that I would be speaking in the U.S. Congress this week 
about him, about his hunger strike, about his heroic struggle for

[[Page H3724]]

freedom and the heroic struggle of the other pro-democracy leaders I 
spoke to, and about all of Cuba's political prisoners.
  Fidel Castro and his brother, who now has some titles because of the 
dictator's intestinal illness, constitute the historical revenge of the 
brutal, racist European colonialism that the Cubans fought to overthrow 
for almost a century. But they ultimately prevailed.
  Antunez, Biscet and the other pro-democracy leaders who continue to 
fight the Castros' dyarchy represent today's version of Maceo, 
Banderas, Moncada and all the freedom fighters who ultimately obtained 
freedom for Cuba.
  Now one of the disgusting realities of today is that the fight of the 
unarmed Cuban people doesn't exist for the international media and the 
press, with very dignified exceptions. Why are the Cubans non-persons 
for so much of the media? Their racial discrimination is as shameful as 
it is condemnable. But Antunez, Biscet and the other Cuban freedom 
fighters will prevail. They are the future leaders of free Cuba. 
Antunez's last words to me on Friday said it all. ``Tell your 
colleagues, the representative of the American people, Antunez ni se 
rinde, ni se va.'' ``Antunez neither surrenders, nor leaves.''
  Some are advocating that the new administration agree to the 
expulsion from Cuba to the U.S. of Biscet, Antunez and other future 
leaders of Cuba in exchange for some Castro spies currently in U.S. 
Federal prisons, serving time for conspiring to murder U.S. citizens. 
That would be a condemnable act that would violate international law as 
well as the elemental human rights of Cuba's future leaders.
  From the floor of the U.S. Congress, I reiterate my admiration for 
those leaders who confront the totalitarian monster from within Cuba 
today and who will lead free Cuba tomorrow.

                          ____________________