[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 21]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 29291]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                FREEDOM FOR NORMANDO HERNANDEZ GONZALEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 17, 2003

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to inform 
this Congress about Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, a prisoner of 
conscience in totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Hernandez, age 32, and the director of the College of Independent 
Journalists, has been a chronicler of truth amid the lies and deceit of 
Castor's villainous regime. As a journalist who exposed the ruthless 
repression and failed policies of Cuba's totalitarian dictator, Mr. 
Hernandez has been continuously harassed by Castro's political police. 
He was detained and released miles from his home on at least two 
occasions and his telephone has been cut off since June 15, 2002.
  Men and women who seek truth and freedom are the enemies of Castro's 
totalitarian dictatorship. On March 24, 2003, Mr. Hernandez was 
sentenced to 25 years in the Cuban totalitarian gulag. According to the 
sham indictment ``He prepared reports . . . in which he attacked the 
health system (and) the education provided in this country, questioned 
the justice system, tourism, culture, agriculture. . . .''
  Mr. Hernandez, for the ``crime'' of reporting truth instead of 
government mandated lies, is languishing in Castro's gulag. According 
to a statement by his wife, Yarai Reyes, on September 3, 2003, the food 
in the gulag was often rotten, Mr. Hernandez had no electricity in his 
cell and was being refused all medical care.
  Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, in his address at the 20th anniversary of 
the National Endowment for Democracy, President George W. Bush said 
``Communism, and militarism and rule by the capricious and corrupt are 
the relics of a passing era. And we will stand with these oppressed 
peoples until the day of their freedom finally arrives.'' President 
Bush went on to state, ``The advance of freedom is the calling of our 
time; it is the calling of our country.''
  My Colleagues, I applaud President Bush's stirring remarks and I ask 
that we answer his call to advance freedom by demanding liberty for 
every prisoner of conscience. Today I ask the entire Congress to cry 
with one, united, voice for the immediate release of Normando Hernandez 
Gonzalez.

                          ____________________