[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 8, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H3480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         ENRIQUE PADRON OP-ED REGARDING CUBAN SOCIALISM DANGERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Brooks) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROOKS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, socialist Democrats advocate 
dictatorial and guaranteed-to-fail socialism over liberty and the free 
enterprise economic system that has created America's prosperity.
  Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ``evil'' as ``morally 
reprehensible,'' ``causing harm,'' or ``pernicious.'' By that 
definition, socialism is evil, and anyone in America who supports 
socialism supports evil.
  Enrique Padron recently published an editorial in the New York Post 
entitled: ``Hey, Democrats: Here's the price I paid for your Socialist 
dream.'' It is such a revealing test of the evils of socialism that 
today I read it in part into the Congressional Record:
  ``American Democrats are pining ever more loudly for socialism these 
days, for `free' education, `free' health care and much else.
  ``Let me tell you about socialism as I lived it under the Fidel 
Castro regime.
  ``The house where I was born in Communist Cuba had a dirt floor, a 
bathroom hole in the ground, which we shared with six other families, 
and a zinc roof that left us unbearably hot in the summer and shivering 
in the winter.
  ``We had no running water, no refrigerator and no door in the back of 
the house. We cooked with charcoal. My mother raised four boys by 
herself in that `house,' working 12 hours a day to earn 160 Cuban 
pesos, or approximately $6, a month.
  ``Why didn't we fix it?
  ``In addition to the meager income, we had no access to hardware 
stores to buy nails or cement to fix our humble house. In fact, the 
local member of the national assembly was the only person authorized to 
approve whether we could buy a bag of cement or a roll of roof paper--
if they were available.
  ``We couldn't buy these simple materials without that precious piece 
of paper.
  ``Can you imagine going to your congressional Representative to ask 
for permission to buy a box of nails? Or roof tiles? Or roof paper? It 
seems unthinkable in the United States. But in Cuba, where we lacked 
the necessities of life, we had to. And when we complained, the 
authorities scolded us to be grateful for free education and free 
healthcare.
  ``In Cuba, it is illegal to speak against the government or complain 
about living conditions. We were prohibited from speaking with local 
media, but the journalists were state employees and wouldn't publish 
our stories anyway. We couldn't express our unmet needs and were 
reminded that we shouldn't complain anyway, because we were promised--
you guessed it--free education and free healthcare.
  ``In Cuba, doctors make the equivalent of 25 cents an hour and 
teachers 21 cents an hour. Pharmacists earn eight cents an hour.
  ``In Cuba, there is no right to free speech and virtually no 
independent media. There are no free, fair, multiparty elections. In 
fact, there is just one political party, Communist, and only members of 
the Communist Party may run as candidates for any office. But we were 
told we couldn't object to this system, lest we lose our free education 
and free healthcare. . . .
  ``In Cuba, if you dare to yell something true, like `Fidel and Raul 
are dictators,' you could spend many years in prison. Dictatorship is 
another price we had to pay for free education and free healthcare.
  ``I desperately needed something more than the promises of free 
education and free healthcare. I knew that I needed freedom--freedom to 
speak my mind and vote my conscience. It was worth the risk of being 
eaten by sharks than to continue living a life with no purpose and no 
freedom.
  ``On August 16, 1994, I decided to get into a boat with 20 other 
Cubans in search of a future.
  ``One of my two brothers followed me to the United States, also in a 
raft, nearly dying of thirst and hunger during the journey. My other 
brother is still awaiting the visa I filed for 
him. . . .
  ``After arriving in the United States, I worked as an international 
sales manager, owned a restaurant, hosted a radio program and authored 
two books. Today, I work for a Member of Congress. None of those 
opportunities would have been possible for me in socialist Cuba.
  ``I wish that one day I might have a conversation with some of these 
young American socialists who have no experience with actually existing 
socialism. They like to think they can have democracy and a socialist 
economy. But everywhere it's been implemented, public ownership of the 
means of production has led to political repression.
  ``Not least in my native Cuba, with its promises of `free' cradle-to-
grave services.
  ``I chose so much more than the promise of `free.' I chose freedom.''
  Mr. Speaker, Enrique Padron has shared his firsthand experience with 
the suffering, depravity, and evils of socialism in Cuba. Americans 
should heed his words.
  Free enterprise is about liberty and freedom. Socialism is about 
poverty and slavery through the ruling class.

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