[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8046]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS TO CUBA AFFECTING AMERICAN TROOPS

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, we heard the last speaker say ``God bless 
the troops.''
  I want to tell you the story of a man named Carlos Lazo. He is a 
Cuban-American. He joined the military. He served honorably in the 
National Guard in the State of Washington. He spent a year in Iraq as a 
medic in Fallujah, the most violent area of Baghdad or all of Iraq.
  When he came back he thought, Maybe I would like to go see my 
children. So he went and applied for a visa to Cuba, and he was told, 
Well, we are sorry, you went in 2003. You can't see your children until 
2006.
  Now, we are out here passing these ridiculous resolutions about how 
the Cubans act about travel. Why can Carlos Lazo not go and see his 
children?
  I write a letter to OFAC up at the Department of Treasury. They do 
not even answer my letter. They give no justification for why a man who 
served cannot see his kids. And guess what? He is going back to Iraq. 
That is how much we respect the military in this country.
  Somebody ought to act on his behalf. The Republicans have control of 
this Congress. They have control of the White House. And Carlos cannot 
see his kids. Some democracy you are selling in Iraq.

                          ____________________