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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 354 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 354

  Honoring the life of dissident and democracy activist Wilman Villar 
Mendoza and condemning the Castro regime for the death of Wilman Villar 
                                Mendoza.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 26, 2012

   Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Rubio, and Mr. Nelson of Florida) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
  Honoring the life of dissident and democracy activist Wilman Villar 
Mendoza and condemning the Castro regime for the death of Wilman Villar 
                                Mendoza.

Whereas, on Thursday, January 19, 2012, 31-year-old Cuban dissident Wilman 
        Villar Mendoza died, following a 56-day hunger strike to highlight his 
        arbitrary arrest and the repression of basic human and civil rights in 
        Cuba by the Castro regime;
Whereas, on November 2, 2011, Wilman Villar Mendoza was detained by security 
        forces of the Government of Cuba for participating in a peaceful 
        demonstration in Cuba calling for greater political freedom and respect 
        for human rights;
Whereas Wilman Villar Mendoza was sentenced to 4 years in prison after a hearing 
        that lasted less than 1 hour and during which Wilman Villar Mendoza was 
        neither represented by counsel nor given the opportunity to speak in his 
        defense;
Whereas, on November 25, 2011, Wilman Villar Mendoza was placed in solitary 
        confinement after initiating a hunger strike to protest his unjust trial 
        and imprisonment;
Whereas Wilman Villar Mendoza was a member of the Union Patriotica de Cuba, a 
        dissident group the Cuban regime considers illegitimate because members 
        express views critical of the regime;
Whereas security forces of the Government of Cuba have harassed Maritza 
        Pelegrino Cabrales, the wife of Villar Mendoza and a member of the 
        Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco), and have threatened to take away her 
        children if she continues to work with the Ladies in White;
Whereas Human Rights Watch, which documented the case of Wilman Villar Mendoza, 
        stated, ``Arbitrary arrests, sham trials, inhumane imprisonment, and 
        harassment of dissidents' families--these are the tactics used to 
        silence critics.'';
Whereas Amnesty International stated, ``The responsibility for Wilman Villar 
        Mendoza's death in custody lies squarely with the Cuban authorities, who 
        summarily judged and jailed him for exercising his right to freedom of 
        expression.'';
Whereas Orlando Zapata Tamayo, another prisoner of conscience jailed after the 
        ``Black Spring'' crackdown on opposition groups in March 2003, died in 
        prison on February 23, 2010, after a 90-day hunger strike;
Whereas, according to the Cuban Commission on Human Rights, the unrelenting 
        tyranny of the Castro regime has led to more than 4,000 political 
        detentions and arrests in 2011; and
Whereas Cuba is a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council despite 
        numerous documented violations of human rights every year in Cuba: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) condemns the Cuban regime for the death of Wilman 
        Villar Mendoza on January 19, 2011, following a hunger strike 
        to protest his incarceration for participating in a peaceful 
        protest and to highlight the plight of the Cuban people;
            (2) condemns the repression of basic human and civil rights 
        by the Castro regime in Cuba that resulted in more than 4,000 
        detentions and arrests of activists in 2011;
            (3) honors the life of Wilman Villar Mendoza and his 
        sacrifice on behalf of the cause of freedom in Cuba;
            (4) extends condolences to Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales, the 
        wife of Wilman Villar Mendoza, and their children;
            (5) urges the United Nations Human Rights Council to 
        suspend Cuba from its position on the Council;
            (6) urges the General Assembly of the United Nations to 
        vote to suspend the rights of membership of Cuba to the Human 
        Rights Council;
            (7) urges the international community to condemn the 
        harassment and repression of peaceful activists by the Cuban 
        regime; and
            (8) calls on the governments of all democratic countries to 
        insist on the release of all political prisoners and the 
        cessation of violence, arbitrary arrests, and threats against 
        peaceful demonstrators in Cuba, including threats against 
        Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales and members of the Ladies in White 
        (Damas de Blanco).
                                 <all>
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