[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 22732]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FREEDOM FOR RAUL ARENCIBIA FAJARDO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 2005

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Raul Arencibia Fajardo, a political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Arencibia Fajardo is a member of the Lawton Foundation for Human 
Rights, the Human Rights Friends Club, and a delegate of the 24th of 
February Movement. He is a peaceful pro-democracy activist who has 
worked for basic human rights for the people of Cuba. As an opponent of 
the tyrannical regime in Havana, he has faced constant harassment and 
repression.
  According to Amnesty International, he was arrested on December 6, 
2002, along with fellow opposition activists Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and 
Mr. Virgilio Marante Guelmes. He was summarily incarcerated in the 
grotesque totalitarian gulag for 3 months without trial. During his 
unjust imprisonment, and after being released, Mr. Arencibia Fajardo 
never wavered in his commitment to bring freedom, democracy and human 
rights to the Cuban people.
  Unfortunately, according to Amnesty International, on May 18, 2004, 
Mr. Arencibia Fajardo was, in a sham trial, sentenced to 3 years in the 
totalitarian gulag for the ``crimes'' of ``disrespect'' and 
``resistance.''
  According to CubaNetcom, Mr. Arencibia Fajardo has a chronic cough, 
high fever, throat infection, and has been confined in a cell without 
food and water. He is suffering in abhorrent conditions because he 
refuses to accept the reality inflicted on the Cuban people by the 
tyrant. Let us be very clear, the repression and tyranny practiced by 
the regime in Havana are incompatible with the democratic values of the 
western hemisphere.
  Mr. Arencibia Fajardo is one of the many heroes of the peaceful Cuban 
democratic movement who are locked in the dungeons of the dictatorship 
for their beliefs. They are symbols of freedom and democracy who will 
always be remembered when freedom reigns again in Cuba.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Arencibia Fajardo is suffering in a grotesque gulag 
because he believes in freedom, democracy and human rights. My 
Colleagues, it is absolutely unacceptable that peaceful pro-democracy 
activists are languishing in the depraved prisons of tyrants. We must 
demand the immediate and unconditional release of Raul Arencibia 
Fajardo and every prisoner of conscience in totalitarian Cuba.

                          ____________________