[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 27965]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          SUPPORT FOR BELARUS

  (Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
acknowledge the pro-democracy rally that took place in Belarus on 
October 7. During this event, thousands of protesters flooded the 
streets of the capital city in support of democracy and to demand free 
and fair elections. The protesters shouted ``Belarus and Europe,'' and 
they waved European Union flags to express outrage against Alexander 
Lukashenko. That is the person the State Department has labeled ``the 
last dictator of Europe.''
  It is time for this dictator, who cheated his way into office by 
stealing the elections last year, to step aside, step down, and let the 
people decide who should lead their country through legitimate and 
clean elections. The world must not tolerate evil dictators, and this 
one must step aside to allow Belarus to join the modern world rather 
than suffer under the oppressive and selfish rule of one man.
  I applaud, Madam Speaker, the courage of the protesters who took to 
the streets in Belarus, and I stand with them in their quest for 
freedom, democracy, and the rule of law.

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