[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 1914-1915]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     FREEDOM FOR RENE GOMEZ MANZANO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 15, 2006

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
remind my colleagues about Rene Gomez Manzano, a heroic political 
prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.
  Mr. Gomez Manzano is a lawyer and a distinguished member of the pro-
democracy opposition in Cuba. Along with fellow Cuban patriots Martha 
Beatriz Roque and Felix Bonne Carcasses, he is a leader of the Assembly 
to Promote Civil Society. The Assembly is an umbrella organization of 
over 300 groups of Cubans who have asserted their independence from the 
totalitarian state. On May 20, 2005, the Assembly carried out a meeting 
of approximately 200 Cubans who publicly demonstrated their rejection 
of totalitarianism and their support for democracy and the rule of law 
in Havana. Mr. Gomez Manzano was one of the primary architects of that 
historic, admirable accomplishment. Accordingly, he has been the 
constant target of Castro's machinery of repression. He has been 
harassed by the tyrant's thugs and, now, unjustly incarcerated as a 
political prisoner for his peaceful activities.
  Almost a decade earlier, in 1997, after coauthoring the important and 
historic work ``La Patria es de Todos''--``The Homeland Belongs to 
All''--with Martha Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne Carcasses and another 
Cuban patriot, Vladimiro Roca, Mr. Gomez Manzano was arrested by the 
dictatorship and sentenced to various years in the gulag. During his 
unjust imprisonment, and after being released, Mr. Gomez Manzano never 
wavered in his commitment to bring freedom, democracy and human rights 
to the Cuban people. Unfortunately, in an additional act of extreme and 
despicable repression by the dictatorship, Mr. Gomez Manzano, along 
with dozens of others, was arrested once again on July 22, 2005, before 
he could attend a peaceful demonstration in front of the French Embassy 
in Havana to protest the resumption of the European Union's policy of 
so-called engagement with the terrorist regime in Havana.
  I have never had the honor of personally meeting Mr. Gomez Manzano, 
but I can certainly say that I know him quite well. I have

[[Page 1915]]

spoken to him by telephone during various congressional hearings and 
other public events dedicated to highlighting the suffering and 
oppression of the Cuban people. He is a great patriot, a man of the 
law, a man of peace, and an apostle of freedom for Cuba.
  Mr. Speaker, it is completely unacceptable that, while the world 
stands by in silence and acquiescence, Mr. Gomez Manzano languishes in 
the gulag because of his belief in freedom, democracy, human rights and 
the rule of law. We cannot permit the brutal treatment of a man of 
peace like Mr. Gomez Manzano by a demented and murderous tyrant for 
simply supporting freedom for his people. My colleagues, we must never 
forget those who are locked in gulags because of their desire for 
freedom for their countries. My colleagues, we must demand the 
immediate and unconditional release of Rene Gomez Manzano and every 
political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.

                          ____________________