[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11193]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 FREEDOM FOR ERICK JESUS VALDES ALVAREZ

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 3, 2008

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
speak about Erick Jesus Valdes Alvarez, a political prisoner in 
totalitarian Cuba.
  At a time when the totalitarian regime is trying to gain acceptance 
from the international community by enacting smoke and mirror 
``reforms'', we see that the repressive machine is still working hard 
to make every Cuban on the island suffer for having a mind of their 
own. Such a case is Mr. Valdes Alvarez. In November of 2007, Mr. Valdes 
Alvarez was categorized as a ``pre-criminal social danger'' for being a 
member of the Youth Movement for Democracy, a group that calls for the 
autonomy of the universities so that they become true places of thought 
and learning separated from the ideology and influence from the 
propagandist, totalitarian dictatorship.
  At that time Mr. Valdes Alvarez was sentenced to 3 years of forced 
labor, which is the totalitarian regime's idea of ``correctional work'' 
for those who associate themselves with groups that express free 
thinking. Although he escaped imprisonment, the ``probation'' imposed 
on him did not last half a year. On April 25 of this year his 
``probation'' was revoked and he was arrested by agents of the tyranny. 
Mr. Valdes Alvarez, a young man of only 25 years of age, now sits in 
one of the prisons of Castro's gulag without being charged for any 
crime.
  What exactly did Mr. Valdes Alvarez do to cause his designation as 
``dangerous'' and his cruel incarceration? This is impossible to fully 
know in the totalitarian circus of present day Cuba, but perhaps the 
regime was afraid of the courage and patriotism demonstrated by Mr. 
Valdes Alvarez.
  Mr. Valdes Alvarez represents the best of the Cuban people; a people 
that, through brutalized and oppressed for almost half a century, have 
never ceased to fight for their dignity and their freedom.
  Madam Speaker, it is unconscionable that students like Mr. Valdes 
Alvarez are locked in dungeons for simply expressing a desire for 
freedom and an education free of indoctrination. My colleagues, we must 
demand the immediate and unconditional release of Erick Jesus Valdes 
Alvarez before his imprisonment turns into a death sentence, and of all 
the political prisoners in totalitarian Cuba.

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