[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.

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