[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23492]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     FREEDOM FOR FIDEL SUAREZ CRUZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 8, 2004

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Fidel Suarez, a political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Suarez Cruz is a farmer and pro-democracy activist in 
totalitarian Cuba. He is a member of the Party for Human Rights in 
Cuba. Mr. Suarez Cruz also heads the private library ``San Pablo.'' 
Because of his admirable beliefs in freedom, democracy, and human 
rights, Mr. Suarez Cruz has been the target of the nightmare called the 
Castro regime.
  According to Amnesty International, in 2000 Mr. Suarez Cruz was 
sentenced to 6 months of restricted freedom for ``disobedience'' for 
fishing in a restricted area: however, this sentenced was changed to 
imprisonment in the totalitarian gulag because he was arrested for 
carrying out peaceful political activities.
  On March 18, 2003, as part of the dictator's condemnable crackdown on 
peaceful pro-democracy activists, Mr. Suarez Cruz was arrested because 
of his belief in freedom and human rights. In a sham trial, he was 
``sentenced'' to 20 years in the inhuman, totalitarian gulag.
  Mr. Suarez Cruz is currently languishing in an infernal cell in the 
totalitarian gulag. These depraved conditions are truly appalling. The 
State Department describes the conditions in the gulag as, ``harsh and 
life threatening.'' The State Department also reports that police and 
prison officials beat, neglect, isolate, and deny medical treatment to 
detainees and prisoners, including those convicted of political crimes. 
It is a crime of the highest order that people who work for freedom are 
imprisoned in these nightmarish conditions.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Suarez Cruz is suffering in a grotesque gulag 
because he believes in freedom. My Colleagues, we cannot allow peaceful 
pro-democracy activists to languish in the depraved prisons of tyrants. 
We must demand immediate freedom for Fidel Suarez Cruz and every 
prisoner of conscience in totalitarian Cuba.

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