[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 24965]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                FREEDOM FOR BLAS GIRALDO REYES RODRIGUEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, November 4, 2005

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr Speaker, I rise today to speak 
about Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodriguez, a political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Reyes Rodriguez is an opposition activist and independent 
librarian in totalitarian Cuba. His life is dedicated to the 
proposition that the men and women of Cuba must be free: free to learn, 
free to worship, free to elect their leaders, free to enjoy their 
inalienable human rights. Independent librarians in Cuba, such as the 
one operated by Mr. Reyes Rodriguez, provide the indispensable service 
of circulating truth at a time when the tyrannical regime provides only 
propaganda. These heroic librarians often circulate the great works of 
anti-totalitarian literature, including the important writings of 
Vaclav Havel and Dr. Martin Luther King. Literature is a great danger 
to totalitarian regimes: books often provide the truth that tyrants 
seek to hide.
  Unfortunately, In March 2003, as part of Castro's condemnable 
crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy activists, Mr. Reyes Rodriguez was 
arrested. In a sham trial, he was sentenced to 25 years in the 
totalitarian gulag.
  Amnesty International reports that he is suffering from serious 
medical concerns in the gulag. According to the U.S. Department of 
State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2003:

       In early August, officers of the Ministry of the Interior 
     threatened to arrest the wife of prisoner Blas Giraldo Reyes 
     Rodriguez if she continued to receive activists who visited 
     her to express sympathy for the jailing of her husband. 
     Police told Isel de las Mercedes Acosta Obregon that they 
     would try her for violating the Law to Protect National 
     Independence and the Economy (Law 88) (see Section 2.a.) if 
     she did not cease ``counterrev-
     olutionary activities.''

  Mr. Reyes Rodriguez has also been named an honorary member of Sydney 
PEN, an organization of writers devoted to emphasizing the role of 
literature in the development of mutual understanding and world 
culture; to fighting for freedom of expression; and to acting as a 
powerful voice on behalf of writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes 
killed for their views.
  Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear, Mr. Reyes Rodriguez is languishing 
in an infernal gulag because he believes in freedom, truth, democracy, 
and human rights. His family is being constantly threatened because of 
these ``dangerous'' beliefs. My colleagues, we must demand the 
immediate and unconditional release of Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodriguez and 
every political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.

                          ____________________