[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 9526]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                FREEDOM FOR ALFREDO MANUEL PULIDO LOPEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 19, 2007

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Dr. Alfredo Manuel Pulido Lopez, a political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  Dr. Pulido Lopez is an independent journalist and a member of the 
Christian Liberation Movement. Before he became a human rights activist 
and a leader in the pro-democracy movement in a country oppressed by a 
totalitarian tyrant, he worked as a dentist. In 1998 he was forced from 
his job because of his support for democracy and the rule of law. In 
2001, Dr. Pulido Lopez joined the ``El Mayor'' news agency in Camaguey, 
Cuba to expose the despotism and corruption of the tyranny as an 
independent journalist. He wrote on all aspects of totalitarian Cuban 
society and contributed to numerous foreign press agencies because he 
wished to make known the true nature of the regime that enslaves Cuba.
  On March 18, 2003, as part of the regime's deplorable island wide 
crackdown on peaceful prodemocracy activists, Dr. Pulido Lopez was 
arrested because he wrote the truth about a ruthless and repressive 
tyranny. After a sham trial, where he was accused of ``endangering 
independence and the state's territorial integrity'' and of ``writing 
tendentious articles on various aspects of national and provincial 
life,'' Dr. Pulido Lopez was sentenced to 14 years in a totalitarian 
dungeon.
  On April 18, 2006, Rebecca Rodriguez Souto, Dr. Pulido Lopez's wife, 
visited her husband and was immediately alarmed by his condition and 
the severity his deterioration. According to a report she filed with 
the Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP), Dr. Pulido Lopez is 
dangerously malnourished, deeply depressed, and having great difficulty 
breathing. Since his incarceration he has lost over 40 lbs and he finds 
it difficult to consume the grotesque food fed to the political 
prisoners. Despite his seriously declining health, Dr. Pulido Lopez 
continues to be caged in a totalitarian dungeon, sharing its squalor 
with at least 100 hardened common criminals. He has witnessed 
innumerable acts of violence and he must continually fear for his life.
  Also fearing for her husband's life, Rebecca Rodriguez Souto has 
repeatedly requested that the tyranny release her husband on medical 
parole. She has yet to hear a response from the brutal tyrant's 
machinery. Dr. Pulido Lopez himself has stated that he has no real 
reason to ask for medical parole since he is an innocent man to begin 
with, and that what the dictatorship's officials really have to give 
him is his freedom. To his wife he has explained that with every day he 
is firmer in his convictions, that he will not renounce them, and that 
``they (the tyranny) can do what they want.''
  Dr. Pulido Lopez was arrested because of his belief in liberty. His 
commitment to freedom, in the face of his declining health and the 
regime's complete and utter disregard for human rights and dignity, is 
a testament to the heroism of the Cuban people. It is abominable that 
just 90 miles from our shores Castro's subhuman gulags are full of men 
and women, like Dr. Pulido Lopez, who represent the very best of the 
Cuban nation.
  Madam Speaker, we must speak out against this unconscionable crime 
against humanity. My Colleagues, we must demand the immediate release 
of Alfredo Manuel Pulido Lopez and every political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba.

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