[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7910]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   LADIES IN WHITE 2017 FREEDOM AWARD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, last night I had the honor of 
presenting the International Republican Institute's 2017 Freedom Award 
to great freedom fighters in my native homeland of Cuba, the Ladies in 
White, las Damas de Blanco, although my dear friend Berta Soler, the 
leader of the Ladies in White, was not able to be there. Why? Because 
the Cuban regime refused to allow her to leave the island. We were 
lucky enough to have one of the organization's founding members, Blanca 
Reyes Castanon, with us accepting the award on the group's behalf.
  I have had the privilege of knowing both Blanca and Berta for so many 
years, and it has been an honor for me to be able to raise awareness 
about the brave and inspiring Ladies in White, whether I do it here 
from the House floor or by hosting them here in our Nation's Capital or 
in my district in Miami, Florida.
  Each Sunday in Cuba, the Ladies in White fight for their relatives 
and all political prisoners in Cuba, demonstrating peacefully as they 
walk to church.
  Yet each Sunday, Mr. Speaker, they are harassed. They are beaten. 
They are arrested by the regime's thugs.
  As a Cuban refugee myself, fleeing the island with my parents when I 
was only 8 years old, I have seen how the regime has morphed and 
evolved its methods of repression over the years.
  Its treatment of the Ladies in White is emblematic of how it treats 
all political dissidents, with intimidation, with harassment, with 
arbitrary arrests, with short-term detentions, with denying them the 
ability to travel, by trying to bully dissidents into silence.
  It attempts to disguise its tactics of repression, trying to fly 
under the radar so that outside eyes are fooled or placated or feel 
that they can simply look the other way. But we won't, Mr. Speaker. We 
won't look the other way.
  Despite all of the propaganda, despite all of the misguided policy 
over the past years, the reality is that the regime's repression is 
only getting worse, and dissidents like the Ladies in White are bearing 
the brunt of the regime's intimidation and violence.
  The regime is terrified of anyone who speaks for their God-given 
human rights in Cuba. It wants to project an image to the outside world 
that the situation in Cuba is improving, but we must not be fooled, Mr. 
Speaker. The regime will do whatever it takes to remain in power. That 
is its sole desire, to remain in power. We must be clear-eyed.
  We must be honest about what is really going on in Cuba. We must not 
be placated by the regime's lies or by those who repeat them. We must 
fight for the truth and show the Cuban people that they are not alone, 
that together we all stand in solidarity with them in the pursuit of 
freedom, in the pursuit of democracy and the ability to practice their 
religion, to live without fear of arbitrary arrests, to live without 
fear of torture, and finally one day to be able to choose their own 
leaders.
  And we can start by supporting the faces of Cuba's future, the 
dissidents, the human rights champions, the defenders of freedom, like 
the brave women of the Ladies in White. They represent the true Cuba. 
They are Cuba's future. And it was my honor to present them with the 
IRI's 2017 Freedom Award last night.
  Congratulations to las Damas de Blanco, the Ladies in White.

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