[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6825]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING ORLANDO ZAPATA TAMAYO

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARIO DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 15, 2012

  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Orlando 
Zapata Tamayo who would have turned 45 years old today, had his life 
not been cut short by the murderous Castro dictatorship.
   Orlando Zapata Tamayo was a member of the pro-democracy 
organizations Movimiento Alternativa Republicana and the Consejo 
Nacional de Resistencia Covica. He was arrested several times, 
including on March 20th, 2003 during Cuba's notorious ``Black Spring.'' 
During his many years in prison, he suffered beatings, humiliation, and 
long periods of solitary confinement. Zapata Tamayo began a hunger 
strike on December 3rd, 2009 to protest inhumane prison conditions and 
arbitrary extensions of his sentences. His hunger strike lasted more 
than 80 days. During that time, he was deprived of water, suffered 
abhorrent prison conditions, and ultimately died at the hands of the 
Castro regime on February 23rd, 2010.
   Sadly, the two years since his death have been years of increased 
repression and more murders by the Castro regime. The number of 
political arrests doubled between 2010 and 2011, and the first three 
months of 2012 have proven even more brutal and repressive than the 
same period last year. While we continue to mourn the loss of Zapata 
Tamayo, his spirit and mission have nonetheless strengthened Cuba's 
courageous pro-democracy movement. Shortly after Zapata Tamayo's death, 
other pro-democracy activists continued his cause such as Jorge Luis 
Garcia Perez (``Antunez''), who founded the ``Orlando Zapata Tamayo 
National Front for Civic Resistance and Civil Disobedience.'' In so 
many ways, he still lives. Among the pro-democracy activists that honor 
him and continue his mission, Mr. Zapata Tamayo is an enduring symbol 
of perseverance in the face of brutal repression.
   Mr. Speaker, I am honored to pay tribute to Orlando Zapta Tamayo. 
Although his life was brutally cut short, he will forever be a blessing 
to Cuba's courageous pro-democracy movement and to the activists that 
will not allow his sacrifice to be in vain.

                          ____________________