[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23074]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FREEDOM FOR ORLANDO ZAPATA TAMAYO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 18, 2005

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a political prisoner in totalitarian 
Cuba.
  Mr. Zapata Tamayo is a member of the Alternative Republican Movement 
as well as a member of the National Civic Resistance Committee. Because 
of his belief in freedom and democracy, Mr. Zapata Tamayo has been a 
constant target of the tyrant's machinery of repression. According to 
Amnesty International, he was detained and harassed by the 
dictatorship's thugs on July 3, 2002 and October 28, 2002. In November 
2002, after taking part in a workshop on human rights in the central 
Havana park, he and eight other dictatorship opponents were arrested 
again. He was also arrested and thrown into the totalitarian gulag in 
December 2002.
  Mr. Zapata Tamayo, knowing full well the heinous repression that 
awaited him if he continued to advocate for freedom for the people of 
Cuba, never wavered in his convictions. Unfortunately, on May 20, 2003, 
he was arrested again for taking part in a hunger strike to demand the 
release of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet. According to Information Bridge 
Cuba-Miami, in a sham trial, Mr. Zapata Tamayo was sentenced to 3 years 
in the totalitarian gulag for the supposed crimes of ``public disorder, 
disobedience and resisting authority.''
  Brave men and women like Mr. Zapata Tamayo represent the best of 
mankind. He and other pro-democracy activists languish in abhorrent 
dungeons, defy the dictator's machinery of repression and, despite 
every threat and obstacle, relentlessly demand liberty for the people 
of Cuba. Because of their unwavering dedication and the hard work and 
commitment of countless other patriots, Cuba will be free again.
  Mr. Speaker, it is categorically unacceptable that, while the world 
stands by in silence and acquiescence, Mr. Zapata Tamayo languishes in 
a grotesque gulag because of his belief in freedom, democracy, human 
rights and the rule of law. We cannot permit the brutal treatment by a 
demented and murderous tyrant of a man like Mr. Zapato Tamayo for 
simply supporting freedom for his people. My colleagues, we must demand 
the immediate and unconditional release of Orlando Zapato Tamayo and 
every political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.

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