[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 124 (Thursday, July 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S4930]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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 SENATE RESOLUTION 303--SUPPORTING THE PEOPLE OF CUBA IN THEIR DEMANDS 
   FOR FREEDOM AND THE FULFILLMENT OF BASIC NEEDS AND CONDEMNING THE 
                        COMMUNIST REGIME IN CUBA

  Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Graham, Mrs. 
Blackburn, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Daines, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Scott of 
South Carolina, Mr. Tillis, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Cotton, Mr. 
Braun, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Hawley, Mr. Moran, Mr. Hoeven, 
Mr. Blunt, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Risch, Mr. Inhofe, and Mrs. Hyde-Smith) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 303

       Whereas, on July 11, 2021, thousands of people in Cuba 
     raised their voices against socialism, tyranny, and 
     oppression;
       Whereas the Cuban people, tired of living under a brutal 
     dictatorship, peacefully protested against the Communist 
     regime throughout Cuba, from major cities such as Havana, 
     Santiago, and Santa Clara to small towns and villages;
       Whereas protesters have assembled at the headquarters of 
     the Communist Party of Cuba chanting, ``Cuba isn't yours!'', 
     ``We are not afraid!'', ``Freedom!'', and ``Homeland and 
     Life'';
       Whereas these protests are only the latest in the Cuban 
     people's long struggle for freedom, which has included--
       (1) the Christian Liberation Movement, which has advocated 
     for political change in Cuba since 1987;
       (2) the 1994 Maleconazo uprising in Havana, during which 
     thousands of protesters rose up against the disastrous 
     economic policies of the Communist regime in Cuba;
       (3) the Varela Project, which, in 1998, proposed a law 
     advocating for democratic political reforms within Cuba;
       (4) the Ladies in White movement, founded in 2003 by the 
     wives and relatives of those imprisoned by the regime; and
       (5) the San Isidro Movement, which was formed by artists, 
     journalists, and academics in 2018 to protest the 
     restrictions imposed by the Communist regime in Cuba on the 
     Cuban people's right to free expression;
       Whereas, since 1959, the Communist regime in Cuba has 
     repressed political and economic freedoms, including by--
       (1) preventing Cubans from owning private property and 
     using property stolen from Cuban-Americans, many of whom are 
     now United States citizens;
       (2) forcing Cubans employed at foreign firms to register 
     with a state employment agency that confiscates the bulk of 
     their earnings; and
       (3) restricting the access of the Cuban people to the 
     internet by using equipment and systems produced and 
     installed by entities controlled by the Chinese Communist 
     Party;
       Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has not acted to 
     preserve the lives and well-being of the Cuban people during 
     the COVID-19 pandemic and left Cubans in dire need of food, 
     medicine, and other basic necessities;
       Whereas the Communist Party of Cuba has for years sought to 
     silence those it considers its political opponents through 
     the use of police harassment, forced detainment, and torture, 
     including--
       (1) dismissing and disparaging Oswaldo Paya, founder of the 
     Christian Liberation Movement, and obstructing a credible 
     investigation into the questionable circumstances of his 
     death in a car crash in 2012;
       (2) imprisoning 75 dissidents, journalists, and human 
     rights advocates during the ``Black Spring'' in Cuba in 2003;
       (3) imprisoning Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, founder of the 
     Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU);
       (4) arresting journalist Camila Acosta in March 2021 for 
     sharing information on Facebook;
       (5) detaining Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, an independent labor 
     union leader, multiple times;
       (6) imprisoning journalist Roberto Quinones Haces; and
       (7) detaining the leaders of the San Isidro Movement, 
     including Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, Esteban Lazaro 
     Rodriguez Lopez, Maykel Osorbo, and many others;
       Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has been responsible 
     for numerous atrocities against those that stood up for the 
     rights of the Cuban people, including the extrajudicial 
     assassinations of innocent civilians and activists by firing 
     squad and other brutal methods, such as during the Tugboat 
     Massacre of 1994 and the shoot-down of the Brothers to the 
     Rescue aircraft in 1996;
       Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba is taking steps to 
     silence protesters and their message by shutting down 
     internet access throughout Cuba, including by seizing and 
     assaulting photographer Ramon Espinosa;
       Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has already taken 
     steps to violently suppress protests, including deploying 
     heavily armed troops and tear gas to disperse protesters;
       Whereas hundreds of Cubans have been wounded by that use of 
     violence by the Communist regime in Cuba, and 67 individuals 
     have been arrested by the regime;
       Whereas Miguel Diaz-Canel has openly called for bloodshed 
     to quell the protests by calling on ``revolutionary'' 
     citizens to ``battl[e] in the streets'';
       Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has for years resisted 
     the efforts of the United States and its allies to bring 
     freedom to Cuba, including by--
       (1) threatening the mass deportation of people in order to 
     destabilize local government services in the United States;
       (2) harboring terrorists and fugitives from the United 
     States wanted for committing violent crimes in the United 
     States; and
       (3) jamming the radio broadcasts of Radio and TV Marti, 
     which provide critical information on the outside world to 
     the Cuban people; and
       Whereas, since 1959, the United States has stood 
     steadfastly in support of the freedom of the Cuban people: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) expresses support for the people of Cuba on their 
     courageous efforts to advance freedom and democracy in Cuba;
       (2) calls on Cuban security forces to respect the 
     fundamental rights of the Cuban people to peacefully protest 
     while raising their voices and demanding ``Libertad'';
       (3) calls on the Communist regime in Cuba to immediately 
     release all political prisoners and calls for the end of acts 
     of repression and arbitrary imprisonment of members of the 
     opposition, artists, and journalists;
       (4) calls on the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry 
     of the Revolutionary Armed Forces to refrain from physical 
     violence and any other acts of repression against the people 
     of Cuba;
       (5) urges the European Union and Latin American and 
     Caribbean allies--
       (A) to express their solidarity with all the Cuban people;
       (B) to speak out against the repression of the freedom-
     loving people of Cuba;
       (C) to condemn acts of violence against the Cuban people by 
     the military and security forces of Cuba; and
       (D) to cease cooperation with the murderous and corrupt 
     Communist regime in Cuba;
       (6) urges President Biden to coordinate an international 
     effort through--
       (A) calling a meeting of the United Nations Security 
     Council;
       (B) engaging the European Union and the Organization of 
     American States (OAS) to condemn the oppression of the Cuban 
     people by the Communist regime in Cuba; and
       (C) leading the effort to impose multilateral sanctions on 
     the regime and against those violating the human rights of 
     the protesters; and
       (7) encourages President Biden and the Secretary of State 
     to publicly condemn the violence, arbitrary arrests, 
     persecution, threats, and intimidation against the people of 
     Cuba.

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