IV

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. 91

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the human

rights situation in Cuba.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 19, 2001

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. LANTOS, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr.

DELAY, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. ARMEY, Mr.

BALLENGER, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. BURR of North Carolina,

Mr. WEXLER, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. WOLF, Mr. HASTINGS

of Florida, and Mr. ACKERMAN) submitted the following resolution; which

was referred to the Committee on International Relations

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives

regarding the human rights situation in Cuba.

Whereas, according to the Department of State and international human rights organizations, the Government of

Cuba continues to commit widespread and well-documented human rights violations against the Cuban people

and to detain hundreds more as political prisoners;

Whereas the Castro regime systematically violates all of the

fundamental civil and political rights of the Cuban people, denying freedoms of speech, press, assembly, movement, religion, and association, the right to change their

government, and the right to due process and fair trials;
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Whereas, in law and in practice, the Government of Cuba restricts the freedom of religion of the Cuban people and

engages in efforts to control and monitor religious institutions through surveillance, infiltration, evictions, restrictions on access to computer and communication

equipment, and harassment of religious professionals and

lay persons;

Whereas the totalitarian regime of Fidel Castro actively suppresses all peaceful opposition and dissent by the Cuban

people using undercover agents, informers, rapid response

brigades, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution,

surveillance, phone tapping, intimidation, defamation, arbitrary detention, house arrest, arbitrary searches, evictions, travel restrictions, politically-motivated dismissals

from employment, and forced exile;

Whereas workers’ rights are effectively denied by a system in

which foreign investors are forced to contract labor from

the Government of Cuba and to pay the regime in hard

currency knowing that the regime will pay less than 5

percent of these wages in local currency to the workers

themselves;

Whereas these abuses by the Government of Cuba violate

internationally accepted norms of conduct;

Whereas the House of Representatives is mindful of the admonishment of former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo

during the last Ibero-American Summit in Havana,

Cuba, that ‘‘[t]here can be no sovereign nations without

free men and women [. . . m]en and women who can freely exercise their essential freedoms: freedom of thought

and opinion, freedom of participation, freedom of dissent,

freedom of decision’’;
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Whereas President Vaclav Havel, an essential figure in the

Czech Republic’s transition to democracy, has counseled

that ‘‘[w]e thus know that by voicing open criticism of

undemocratic conditions in Cuba, we encourage all the

brave Cubans who endure persecution and years of prison

for their loyalty to the ideals of freedom and human dignity’’;

Whereas former President Lech Walesa, leader of the Polish

solidarity movement, has urged the world to ‘‘mobilize its

resources, just as was done in support of Polish

Solidarnosc and the Polish workers, to express their support for Cuban workers and to monitor labor rights’’ in

Cuba;

Whereas efforts to document, expose, and address human

rights abuses in Cuba are complicated by the fact that

the Government of Cuba continues to deny international

human rights and humanitarian monitors access to the

country;

Whereas Pax Christi further reports that these efforts are

complicated because ‘‘a conspiracy of silence has fallen

over Cuba’’ in which diplomats and entrepreneurs refuse

even to discuss labor rights and other human rights

issues in Cuba, some ‘‘for fear of endangering the relations with the Cuban government’’, and businessmen investing in Cuba ‘‘openly declare that the theme of human

rights was not of their concern’’;

Whereas the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva provides an excellent

forum to spotlight human rights and expressing international support for improved human rights performance

in Cuba and elsewhere;
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Whereas the goal of United States policy in Cuba is to promote a peaceful transition to democracy through an active policy of assisting the forces of change on the island;

Whereas the United States may provide assistance through

appropriate nongovernmental organizations to help individuals and organizations to promote nonviolent democratic change and promote respect for human rights in

Cuba; and

Whereas the President is authorized to engage in democracybuilding efforts in Cuba, including the provision of (1)

publications and other informational materials on transitions to democracy, human rights, and market economies

to independent groups in Cuba, (2) humanitarian assistance to victims of political repression and their families,

(3) support for democratic and human rights groups in

Cuba, and (4) support for visits and permanent deployment of democratic and international human rights monitors in Cuba: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That—

2 (1) the House of Representatives condemns the

3 repressive and totalitarian actions of the Govern4 ment of Cuba against the Cuban people; and

5 (2) it is the sense of the House of Representa6 tives that the President—

7 (A) should have an action-oriented policy

8 of directly assisting the Cuban people and inde9 pendent organizations, modeled on United

10 States support under former President Ronald

11 Reagan, including support by United States
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1 trade unions, for Poland’s Solidarity movement

2 (‘‘Solidarnosc’’), to strengthen the forces of

3 change and to improve human rights within

4 Cuba; and

5 (B) should make all efforts necessary at

6 the meeting of the United Nations Human

7 Rights Commission in Geneva in 2001 to obtain

8 the passage by the Commission of a resolution

9 condemning the Government of Cuba for its

10 human rights abuses, and to secure the ap11 pointment of a Special Rapporteur for Cuba.

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