III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 303 

Supporting the people of Cuba in their demands for freedom and the 

fulfillment of basic needs and condemning the Communist regime in Cuba. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 15, 2021 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. GRAHAM, 

Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. DAINES, Mr. KENNEDY, 

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. TILLIS, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. 

COTTON, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. HAWLEY, Mr. 

MORAN, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. RISCH, Mr. 

INHOFE, and Mrs. HYDE-SMITH) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting the people of Cuba in their demands for freedom 

and the fulfillment of basic needs and condemning the 

Communist regime in Cuba. 

Whereas, on July 11, 2021, thousands of people in Cuba 

raised their voices against socialism, tyranny, and oppression; 

Whereas the Cuban people, tired of living under a brutal dictatorship, peacefully protested against the Communist regime throughout Cuba, from major cities such as Havana, Santiago, and Santa Clara to small towns and villages; 


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•SRES 303 IS 

Whereas protesters have assembled at the headquarters of 

the Communist Party of Cuba chanting, ‘‘Cuba isn’t 

yours!’’, ‘‘We are not afraid!’’, ‘‘Freedom!’’, and ‘‘Homeland and Life’’; 

Whereas these protests are only the latest in the Cuban people’s long struggle for freedom, which has included— 

(1) the Christian Liberation Movement, which has 

advocated for political change in Cuba since 1987; 

(2) the 1994 Maleconazo uprising in Havana, during 

which thousands of protesters rose up against the disastrous economic policies of the Communist regime in 

Cuba; 

(3) the Varela Project, which, in 1998, proposed a 

law advocating for democratic political reforms within 

Cuba; 

(4) the Ladies in White movement, founded in 2003 

by the wives and relatives of those imprisoned by the regime; and 

(5) the San Isidro Movement, which was formed by 

artists, journalists, and academics in 2018 to protest the 

restrictions imposed by the Communist regime in Cuba 

on the Cuban people’s right to free expression; 

Whereas, since 1959, the Communist regime in Cuba has repressed political and economic freedoms, including by— 

(1) preventing Cubans from owning private property 

and using property stolen from Cuban-Americans, many 

of whom are now United States citizens; 

(2) forcing Cubans employed at foreign firms to register with a state employment agency that confiscates the 

bulk of their earnings; and 

(3) restricting the access of the Cuban people to the 

internet by using equipment and systems produced and 


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•SRES 303 IS 

installed by entities controlled by the Chinese Communist 

Party; 

Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has not acted to 

preserve the lives and well-being of the Cuban people during the COVID–19 pandemic and left Cubans in dire 

need of food, medicine, and other basic necessities; 

Whereas the Communist Party of Cuba has for years sought 

to silence those it considers its political opponents 

through the use of police harassment, forced detainment, 

and torture, including— 

(1) dismissing and disparaging Oswaldo Paya, 

founder of the Christian Liberation Movement, and obstructing a credible investigation into the questionable 

circumstances of his death in a car crash in 2012; 

(2) imprisoning 75 dissidents, journalists, and 

human rights advocates during the ‘‘Black Spring’’ in 

Cuba in 2003; 

(3) imprisoning Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, founder 

of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU); 

(4) arresting journalist Camila Acosta in March 

2021 for sharing information on Facebook; 

(5) detaining Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, an independent labor union leader, multiple times; 

(6) imprisoning journalist Roberto Quinones Haces; 

and 

(7) detaining the leaders of the San Isidro Movement, including Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, Esteban 

Lazaro Rodriguez Lopez, Maykel Osorbo, and many others; 

Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has been responsible 

for numerous atrocities against those that stood up for 

the rights of the Cuban people, including the extrajudicial 


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•SRES 303 IS 

assassinations of innocent civilians and activists by firing 

squad and other brutal methods, such as during the Tugboat Massacre of 1994 and the shoot-down of the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft in 1996; 

Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba is taking steps to 

silence protesters and their message by shutting down 

internet access throughout Cuba, including by seizing and 

assaulting photographer Ramon Espinosa; 

Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has already taken 

steps to violently suppress protests, including deploying 

heavily armed troops and tear gas to disperse protesters; 

Whereas hundreds of Cubans have been wounded by that use 

of violence by the Communist regime in Cuba, and 67 individuals have been arrested by the regime; 

Whereas Miguel Diaz-Canel has openly called for bloodshed 

to quell the protests by calling on ‘‘revolutionary’’ citizens 

to ‘‘battl[e] in the streets’’; 

Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has for years resisted the efforts of the United States and its allies to 

bring freedom to Cuba, including by— 

(1) threatening the mass deportation of people in 

order to destabilize local government services in the 

United States; 

(2) harboring terrorists and fugitives from the 

United States wanted for committing violent crimes in 

the United States; and 

(3) jamming the radio broadcasts of Radio and TV 

Marti, which provide critical information on the outside 

world to the Cuban people; and 


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Whereas, since 1959, the United States has stood steadfastly 

in support of the freedom of the Cuban people: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) expresses support for the people of Cuba on 

3 their courageous efforts to advance freedom and de4 mocracy in Cuba; 

5 (2) calls on Cuban security forces to respect the 

6 fundamental rights of the Cuban people to peacefully 

7 protest while raising their voices and demanding 

8 ‘‘Libertad’’; 

9 (3) calls on the Communist regime in Cuba to 

10 immediately release all political prisoners and calls 

11 for the end of acts of repression and arbitrary im12 prisonment of members of the opposition, artists, 

13 and journalists; 

14 (4) calls on the Ministry of the Interior and the 

15 Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces to re16 frain from physical violence and any other acts of re17 pression against the people of Cuba; 

18 (5) urges the European Union and Latin Amer19 ican and Caribbean allies— 

20 (A) to express their solidarity with all the 

21 Cuban people; 

22 (B) to speak out against the repression of 

23 the freedom-loving people of Cuba; 


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1 (C) to condemn acts of violence against the 

2 Cuban people by the military and security 

3 forces of Cuba; and 

4 (D) to cease cooperation with the mur5 derous and corrupt Communist regime in Cuba; 

6 (6) urges President Biden to coordinate an 

7 international effort through— 

8 (A) calling a meeting of the United Na9 tions Security Council; 

10 (B) engaging the European Union and the 

11 Organization of American States (OAS) to con12 demn the oppression of the Cuban people by the 

13 Communist regime in Cuba; and 

14 (C) leading the effort to impose multilat15 eral sanctions on the regime and against those 

16 violating the human rights of the protesters; 

17 and 

18 (7) encourages President Biden and the Sec19 retary of State to publicly condemn the violence, ar20 bitrary arrests, persecution, threats, and intimida21 tion against the people of Cuba. 

Æ 


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