[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 14, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H5551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CUBA CONTINUES TO OPPRESS ITS PEOPLE

  (Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in protest of the 
Castro regime's intention to forcibly deport 52 political prisoners 
under the guise of release. Historically, the Castro regime has used 
political prisoners as pawns to extract international concessions and 
ease criticism. But as The Washington Post pointed out in their 
reporting on this story, this gesture does not represent fundamental 
political change. As more political dissidents die of hunger strikes in 
Cuba, we cannot allow this hollow gesture to blind us from the reality 
on the ground.
  In Cuba's authoritarian dictatorship, every dollar that flows into 
the country props up the Castro regime. In the meantime, Alan Gross of 
Potomac, Maryland, arrested for distributing cell phones and laptops to 
Cuba's tiny Jewish community, continues to sit in prison with no hope 
of release.
  A relationship with the United States must be earned. Banishing 
political dissidents from their homeland hardly meets that test. This 
cheap political trick is surely of no solace for Gross and others still 
in jail.

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