[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26061-26062]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     FREE THE CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS AND PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, pro-democracy 
activists inside Cuba report that an undetermined number of dissidents 
were detained by the dictatorship on the morning of September 27. The 
dissidents were on their way to participate in peaceful activities to 
request the release of political prisoners.
  Those detained in Cuba on September 27 include Martha Beatriz Roque, 
Jorge Luis Garcia Perez ``Antunez,'' Blas Augusto Fortun Martinez, Yubi 
Diosenegui Pernet Perez, Alicia Martinez Guevara, Alejandro Gabriel 
Martinez Martinez, Guillermo Perez Year, Amado Ruiz Moreno, Carlos 
Cordero Paez, Idania Yanes Contreras, Yesmi Elena Mena Silvano, Jose 
Diaz Silva, Georgina Noa Montes, Arturo Montgomery Alonso, Roberto de 
Jesus Guerra Perez, Yunieski Garcia Lopez, Lester Fernandez Zamora, 
Felix Reyes Gutierrez, Yoel Espinosa Medrano, Ariel Orama Martin, Angel 
Raul Perez Gavilan, Javier Delgado Torres, Carlos Michael Morales 
Rodriguez, and others whose names I do not have. At this time it is 
unknown how many of the detained dissidents have been released and how 
many will be kept in confinement. It is up to the whim of the ailing 
tyrant.
  The list of political prisoners languishing in Cuban prisons is long, 
Madam Speaker. Sixty dissidents who were peacefully expressing their 
opposition to the dictatorship remain in prison since the regime's 
brutal crackdown of March 2003, joining hundreds of other political 
prisoners. Reporters Without Borders reports that there are at least 23 
journalists languishing in abysmal conditions in Cuban prisons.
  The Miami Herald today published a very important editorial about one 
such journalist. I think it's an editorial that deserves commendation 
and attention. It reads as follows:

       Normando Hernandez Gonzalez may die for exercising free 
     speech in Cuba. An independent journalist, he has been 
     imprisoned since Cuba's crackdown on dissidents in April 
     2003. Now he is so critically ill that he was transferred to 
     a Havana military hospital last week.
       It is bad enough that Mr. Hernandez Gonzalez, 39, is 
     serving a 25-year sentence for criticizing the government, 
     something people in free countries do every day. Yet things 
     could get worse. Returning him to prison would be a death 
     sentence. This is where he contracted serious ailments, 
     chronic digestive disorders and tuberculosis among them. Even 
     if his condition were to improve in the hospital, he would 
     not last long in the filthy cells and eating the food given 
     to political prisoners.
       The hope now is that Cuba will free Mr. Hernandez Gonzalez 
     and allow him to leave the country and soon. International 
     pressure is needed.
       To their credit, legislators in Costa Rica granted Mr. 
     Hernandez Gonzalez a humanitarian visa in April. Cuban 
     authorities refused to honor the visa. But a recent move 
     appeared to get Cuba's attention. Jose Manuel Echandi Meza, a 
     Costa Rican lawmaker, filed a formal complaint with the U.N. 
     Human Rights Commission two weeks ago that accuses Cuba of 
     torturing Mr. Hernandez Gonzalez by denying him proper 
     medical treatment. The following day, he was sent to the 
     Havana hospital. He appears to be getting some medical 
     treatment, according to his wife.
       That wasn't the case before. Mr. Hernandez Gonzalez has 
     been deteriorating since his first year in prison. He has 
     been beaten, placed in solitary confinement and repeatedly 
     denied access to basic medical care. He blames overcrowded, 
     vermin-filled cells and contaminated food and water for his 
     multiple illnesses. He suffers nausea, diarrhea, fever, 
     fainting spells and weight loss.

[[Page 26062]]

       Last December, he was rushed from his prison to a hospital 
     in Camaguey. There he was placed in a room with no furniture. 
     His food was thrown under the door. He returned to prison 
     untreated. While Cuba boasts of its health care system, it 
     denies political prisoners basic care.
       PEN, a writers advocacy group, awarded Mr. Hernandez 
     Gonzalez its prestigious Freedom to Write Award earlier this 
     year. For more information on his case, go to PEN's Web site 
     at www.pen.org. Let the world know that Mr. Hernandez 
     Gonzalez and hundreds of other political prisoners haven't 
     been forgotten. All of them should be released.''

  Now, Madam Speaker, the same week that approximately 30 dissidents 
were rounded up and thrown in dungeons by the Cuban dictatorship, the 
Spanish Government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero decided to 
unilaterally break the European Union's ``Common Position'' on Cuba, by 
entering into a cooperation agreement with the Cuban tyranny.
  Mr. Rodriguez Zapatero and his government thus continue to act as the 
Castro brothers' most zealous advocates in Europe, and they deserve the 
condemnation of all freedom-loving men and women for their disgraceful 
actions.
  I renew tonight my call for the immediate liberation of all political 
prisoners and prisoners of conscience in totalitarian Cuba and urge 
international solidarity for them and for their right to be released 
immediately and unconditionally, all of them, now.

                          ____________________