[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 65 (Thursday, May 12, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H3231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           JUAN WILFREDO SOTO

  (Mr. RIVERA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RIVERA. I rise today to inform my colleagues of yet another 
ruthless murder by the Castro dictatorship in Cuba. Last Sunday, Juan 
Wilfredo Soto Garcia, a dissident leader on the island, was viciously 
beaten to death by Castro's state security thugs simply for 
participating in a peaceful protest.
  Soto belonged to Foro Anti-Totalitario Unido, or the United Anti-
Totalitarian Forum, a peaceful dissident organization. Witnesses have 
attested that two of Castro's henchmen cuffed his hands behind his back 
and then beat him mercilessly and repeatedly with batons until he was 
dead.
  For 30 years, Soto peacefully worked for freedom and change on the 
island and served 12 years in Castro's political prisons for his pro-
democracy advocacy. Last year, Soto stated, ``I hold Cuban state 
security, the government, and the repressive police here responsible 
for whatever happens to me in the future.''
  This past weekend, he gave the ultimate sacrifice for Cuba's freedom 
and became yet another victim in the Castro brothers' 50-year reign of 
terror.

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