[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 22]
[House]
[Page 30170]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               WRONGFUL IMPRISONMENT OF CUBAN DISSIDENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, we have heard tonight 
the plight of Dr. Oscar E. Biscet Gonzalez and the situation that he 
finds himself in today, in a dungeon where he is not able to receive 
light and barely has enough air to breathe, where he has been placed 
with another person who is a violent person to see if that violent 
person can do harm to Dr. Biscet. Why is he serving under those 
conditions? Because he has asked for the one thing that the Castro 
dictatorship, just 90 miles away from the United States, that that thug 
fears the most. What Dr. Biscet continues to ask for is freedom. That 
is it. Freedom to associate, freedom of religion and freedom to speak 
out and elect one's leaders; and for that, he has been sentenced to 25 
years in prison.
  There are those that apologize for the Castro dictatorship, and they 
say we have to normalize relationships with the Castro dictatorship and 
we should treat Castro as if we were dealing with the government of 
Costa Rica or Paraguay because he is not that bad. He is ailing. He is 
an older, ailing individual; and, therefore, we should treat him 
nicely, while he has people like Dr. Biscet and many others rotting in 
prison because all they want is to be free.
  As my colleague, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) 
said, Where is the outrage?
  From time to time we see miniseries on those expensive movie networks 
glorifying Castro, showing him as a great leader. Where is the news 
coverage of Dr. Biscet and the story of Dr. Biscet's suffering? Where 
are the stories of any of the other political prisoners suffering in 
Castro's prisons? Where are they? Why does the press refuse to cover 
the plight of these people?
  Mr. Speaker, despite the fact that the press has total indifference, 
that still gives excuse after excuse as to why we need to deal with 
Castro as if he were a normal human being, not the animal or the 
murderer that he is, despite all that, we will continue to speak out 
because the Cuban people deserve to be free and the American people 
understand more than anybody else how valuable freedom is, which is why 
the American people have always stood fast and have always supported 
people like Dr. Biscet.
  And until the day that Dr. Biscet is free, we will continue to speak, 
despite those that want to apologize for Castro, and despite those who 
want to help the regime and go to Cuba to have sexual tourism with 
little boys and little girls, we will continue to speak up for those 
that cannot be heard, and they will ultimately win. They will 
ultimately be heard, and the Cuban people will be free and the American 
people will feel very proud that they stood by the people of Cuba in 
their darkest moments by not treating Castro as if he were a normal 
human being, by keeping the pressure and making sure that the world 
understands that Castro is what he is: he is a crazy, sick, senile, 
murdering animal. And until the day he is gone, we will continue to 
speak for those like Dr. Biscet who cannot speak.

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