[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 115-116]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FREEDOM FOR EDUARDO DIAZ FLEITAS!

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 20, 2004

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Eduardo Diaz Fleitas, a prisoner of conscience in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Eduardo Diaz Fleitas is a farmer by trade who became a dissident by 
necessity. The incessant brutal repression of human rights by the 
tyrant Fidel Castro forced Mr. Diaz to choose between a life without 
rights or fighting for a life with freedom.
  Mr. Diaz bravely chose to dedicate his life to the fight for freedom. 
He joined his fellow Cuban dissidents and eventually Mr. Diaz rose to 
become vice president of the 5 August Movement, an organization 
commemorating the popular uprising against the dictatorship by the 
people of Havana on August 5, 1994.
  With predictable cruelty, the tyrant, Fidel Castro, unleashed his 
machinery of repression on Mr. Diaz. According to Amnesty 
International, Mr. Diaz was subjected to regular harassment, including 
periods of detention that culminated in one year's restricted freedom 
and house surveillance for public disorder on February 25, 2000.
  Undeterred by threats of continued harassment, Mr. Diaz resumed his 
role as a staunch advocate for freedom for every Cuban citizen. In the 
tyrant Castro's horrific March 2003, crackdown on dissidents, Mr. Diaz 
was arrested once again. According to the sham trial verdict that 
sentenced Mr. Diaz to 21 years in Castro's gulag, Mr. Diaz was 
convicted because:

       It is known by everyone in the area that he directs an 
     opposition group of so-called `human rights,' carrying out 
     activities and meetings, using our national flag and showing 
     posters asking for freedom for political prisoners and 
     prisoners of conscience, in a frank challenge to the 
     judicial, political, and social system.


[[Page 116]]


  Mr. Diaz was sentenced to 21 years in the hell hole of Castro's gulag 
because he challenged the bankrupt, backward, repressive system that 
robs its citizens of every freedom.
  Mr. Speaker, today this Congress participates in one of the great 
traditions of our Republic. This evening, President Bush will deliver 
the State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress here in 
this very chamber. As we gather here to participate in our 
constitutional responsibility let us also rise as one to display our 
solidarity with those brave souls who struggle for the same freedoms 90 
miles from our shore. Let us demand the immediate release of Eduardo 
Diaz Fleitas and all prisoners of conscience in totalitarian Cuba.

                          ____________________