[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20344]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 FREEDOM FOR OMAR MOISES RUIZ HERNANDEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2004

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Omar Moises Ruiz Hernandez, a political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Ruiz Hernandez is a peaceful pro-democracy activist in 
totalitarian Cuba. He is an independent journalist for the Decoro 
Working Group and was vice delegate of the Democratic Solidarity Party. 
The son of a reverend, his religious conviction and belief in freedom 
has made him a target of the dictatorship's thugs. According to Amnesty 
International, Mr. Ruiz Hernandez was arrested in January and March 
1996, interrogated in October 1997, and subject to ongoing harassment 
as he carried out his activities.
  As an independent journalist, Mr. Ruiz Hernandez has written about 
the nightmare that is the Castro regime. His articles have appeared on 
the CubaNet website. According to Reporters Without Borders, Mr. Ruiz 
Hernandez has been harassed for his reporting on the malfunctioning of 
Cuban society under the totalitarian regime as far back as 1992.
  In March, 2003, as part of the dictator's condemnable crackdown on 
peaceful pro democracy activists, Mr. Ruiz Hernandez was arrested 
because of his belief in truth and liberty over propaganda and 
repression. In a sham trial, he was ``sentenced'' to 18 years in the 
inhuman, totalitarian gulag.
  Mr. Ruiz Hernandez is suffering from extreme abuse in the gulag. 
According to Reporters Without Borders, he has been held in ``maximum 
harshness'' including isolation in a 1.9 by 4 meter cell, as well as 
transferred to a cell with common prisoners. Mr. Ruiz Hernandez is also 
ailing from diseases caused by the heinous conditions of the gulag.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ruiz Hernandez is suffering in a grotesque gulag 
because he believes in truth and freedom. My Colleagues, it is 
absolutely unacceptable that peaceful pro-democracy activists are 
languishing in the depraved prisons of tyrants. We must demand 
immediate freedom for Omar Moises Ruiz Hernandez and every prisoner of 
conscience in totalitarian Cuba.

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