[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10985]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  FREEDOM FOR MIGUEL GALVAN GUTIERREZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 20, 2004

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Miguel Galvan Gutierrez, a prisoner of conscience in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Galvan Gutierrez is an engineer by profession and thus a student 
of transforming ideas and concepts into concrete reality. As a man who 
studied how things work, he quickly grasped the broken and irreparable 
nature of Castro's infernal totalitarian regime. As a pro-democracy 
activist, Mr. Galvan Gutierrez has committed himself to portraying the 
true horrors of life under the tyrant in Cuba. He has written articles 
for Havana Press and served as president of the College of Independent 
Engineers and Architects of Cuba.
  As a leading advocate for freedom for every Cuban, Mr. Galvan 
Gutierrez has been constantly harassed by Castro's thugs. According to 
Amnesty International, he has endured numerous interrogations and short 
term detentions. On March 18, 2003, Mr. Galvan Gutierrez was arrested 
and he was subsequently ``sentenced'' to 26 years in the totalitarian 
gulag.
  Mr. Galvan Gutierrez is languishing in the nightmarish conditions of 
the totalitarian gulag because he believes in freedom for every Cuban 
citizen. According to Reporters Without Borders, Mr. Galvan Gutierrez 
is suffering from abdominal and joint pain, together with an 
inflammation of the feet and a paralyzed arm. Reporters Without Borders 
has also reported that Mr. Galvan Gutierrez was put in solitary 
confinement and deprived of water and light because he staged hunger 
strikes to protest the inhuman conditions in the totalitarian gulag.
  Mr. Speaker, today is May 20 and on this day, 102 years ago, the 
Cuban people obtained their independence; the Republic of Cuba was 
born. Today the Cuban people, led by heroic activists such as Mr. 
Galvan Gutierrez, continue to fight for freedom. It is my fervent hope 
that next year, on May 20, the Cuban people will be able to celebrate 
the anniversary of Cuba's independence and also celebrate the return of 
freedom to that long suffering island.
  Mr. Speaker, we must constantly demand freedom for the Cuban people. 
My Colleagues, today, on Cuban Independence Day, we must demand the 
immediate release of Miguel Galvan Gutierrez and every political 
prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.

                          ____________________