[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 7259]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FREEDOM FOR PEDRO ARGUELLES MORAN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 21, 2004

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Pedro Arguelles Moran, a prisoner of conscience in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Arguelles Moran is a member of the Cooperative of Independent 
Journalists and the Cuban Committee for Human Rights. He is an 
independent journalist who has contributed to CubaPress, Cuba Free 
Press and Nueva Prensa, all publications who seek to expose the 
nightmarish reality imposed by the totalitarian regime.
  Because Mr. Arguelles Moran fought to expose the truth about the 
ruthless dictator's politics of fear and repression, he has been 
constantly harassed by Castro's thugs since 1997. According to Amnesty 
International, the harassment Mr. Arguelles Moran has endured includes 
threats, warnings, and detentions in the totalitarian gulag. On January 
15, 1999 he was summoned to appear before a chief of the so-called 
Revolutionary National Police where Mr. Arguelles Moran was found to be 
a ``danger'' because he didn't work for a state enterprise. On January 
27, 1999 he was locked up for two days to prevent him from covering the 
birthday celebrations of Jose Marti on January 28.
  On March 20, 2003, as part of the totalitarian regime's ruthless 
crackdown on prodemocracy activists, Mr. Arguelles Moran was arrested 
and, after a sham trial, sentenced to 20 years in the totalitarian 
gulag. According to CubaNet, Mr. Arguelles Moran has been confined in a 
security cell with inmates held for common crimes who are mistreating 
him. He also reportedly has kidney problems. Let there be no doubt, Mr. 
Arguelles Moran has been ``sentenced'' to 20 years in Castro's violent, 
inhumane totalitarian gulag because he believes in, and wrote about, 
freedom, democracy, and human rights for the people of Cuba.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Arguelles Moran is languishing in the deplorable, 
inhuman conditions of Castro's totalitarian gulag, simply because he 
wrote the truth about the tyrant's repressive regime. My Colleagues, we 
must demand the immediate release of Pedro Arguelles Moran and every 
prisoner of conscience in totalitarian Cuba.

                          ____________________