    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 11 (Monday, March 22, 1999)]
    [Pages 440-441]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on the Cuban Government's Sentencing
    of Human Rights Activists

    March 15, 1999

        I am deeply disappointed that the Cuban Government has sentenced
    four courageous human rights activists--Vladimiro Roca, Felix Bonne,
    Rene Gomez Manzano, and Marta Beatriz Roque--to prison terms. They did
    nothing more than assert their right to speak freely about their
    country's future, call on their Government to respect basic human
    rights, and seek a peaceful transition to democracy for the long-
    suffering Cuban people. They were tried without a fair process, behind
    closed doors. I call on the Cuban Government to release them
    immediately.

    [[Page 441]]