[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 171 (Wednesday, November 30, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H7048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               END OF CUBA'S BRUTAL REGIME OF REPRESSION

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, Fidel Castro led a brutal regime of 
oppression that imprisoned an island nation. While he and his family 
live like kings, the people of Cuba are repressed, starved, and 
forbidden any outside information.
  According to credible sources and The Wall Street Journal, his regime 
may have killed up to 100,000 people. Thousands of political prisoners 
and human rights activists were brutally tortured and killed over the 
years.
  Castro was eager to see the Soviet Union and the United States engage 
in a nuclear war, and even Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had to 
remind Castro that the point of putting the missiles in Cuba was to 
further Communist interests, not start Armageddon. ``This is insane.'' 
Khrushchev said. ``Fidel wants to drag us into the grave with him.''
  Under Castro, the Cuban Government refused to recognize the 
legitimacy of Cuban human rights organizations, alternative political 
parties, independent labor unions, or even a free press. He also denied 
international monitors, such as the International Committee of the Red 
Cross, to access the island to investigate human rights conditions.
  With this vicious dictator finally dead, perhaps our close neighbor 
can finally be free. The people of Cuba can choose for themselves what 
they would like for their lives, rather than death squads and secret 
police imposing the will of a madman. I hope we can be supportive of a 
free Cuba and not further a bad regime.

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