I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1271

To assist the internal opposition in Cuba, and to further help the Cuban

people to regain their freedom.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 28, 2001

Mr. DIAZ-BALART (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr.

BLUNT, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. BONILLA, Mr. BRYANT, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CANNON, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. COOKSEY, Mr. COX, Mr.

CRENSHAW, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr.

DELAY, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. DREIER, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr.

ENGEL, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. FOSSELLA, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. GANSKE,

Mr. GILMAN, Mr. GOSS, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. GUTKNECHT, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. HAYES, Mr.

HORN, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. JENKINS, Mr. JONES of

North Carolina, Mr. KELLER, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr.

KERNS, Mr. KING, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. KIRK, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LINDER,

Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. MCINNIS, Mr. MCKEON,

Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. NEY,

Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PENCE, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota,

Mr. POMBO, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. REYNOLDS, Mr.

ROHRABACHER, Mr. SCARBOROUGH, Mr. SCHROCK, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr.

SHADEGG, Mr. SHAW, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr.

SOUDER, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. SWEENEY, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. TRAFICANT,

Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. WEXLER, Mr.

WHITFIELD, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. WOLF) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

A BILL

To assist the internal opposition in Cuba, and to further

help the Cuban people to regain their freedom.
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cuban Internal Oppo5 sition Assistance Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:

8 (1) United States law permits and facilitates

9 donations of food, medicine, medical supplies and

10 equipment, clothing, building materials, and other

11 humanitarian assistance to Cuba (31 C.F.R. 515).

12 (2) Since 1992, approximately $3,000,000,000

13 in humanitarian assistance from the United States,

14 including food, medicine, and clothing has been au15 thorized for donation to Cuba (Department of Com16 merce, Bureau of Export Administration statistics,

17 10–23–92 through 7–31–97).

18 (3) The United States is the world’s largest

19 source of private humanitarian donations to Cuba

20 (Department of State report ‘‘The U.S. Embargo

21 and Health Care in Cuba’’, August 5, 1997).

22 (4) There are a large number of Cubans who

23 are the victims of the most extreme political repres24 sion, specifically those surviving immediate relatives

25 of Cubans who were assassinated by the Castro re-
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1 gime, political prisoners and their immediate rel2 atives, former political prisoners and their immediate

3 relatives, and activists of the internal opposition and

4 their immediate relatives.

5 (5) Thousands of people have been assassinated

6 by the Castro dictatorship during the last 42 years;

7 (6) There are hundreds of thousands of former

8 political prisoners in Cuba.

9 (7) These victims of the most extreme political

10 repression are the victims of the most brutal actions

11 and are systematically denied access to humani12 tarian and all other forms of assistance by the

13 Cuban dictatorship.

14 (8) Castro has destroyed what was in 1959

15 Latin America’s most developed society and economy

16 (Department of State report ‘‘Zenith and Eclipse: A

17 Comparative Look at Socioeconomic Conditions in

18 Pre-Castro and Present-Day Cuba’’, February 9,

19 1998).

20 (9) For example, data from that State Depart21 ment report shows that, during the years of Castro’s

22 dictatorship—

23 (A) Cuba, once ranked third in the hemi24 sphere in rice production, is now the only coun-
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1 try in the hemisphere whose production of rice

2 and yield per acre has fallen since 1958;

3 (B) Cuba’s electricity production has fallen

4 and the rate of growth of electrical production

5 ranks 19th of 20 nations in the region (just

6 ahead of Haiti);

7 (C) Cuba ranks last in the hemisphere in

8 export growth, while Mexican exports, equiva9 lent to Cuba’s in 1958, have increased 130

10 times since that time;

11 (D) Cuba, ranked third in the hemisphere

12 in 1958 in gold and foreign exchange reserves,

13 is now dead last;

14 (E) Cuba, which in 1957 had more tele15 vision stations (23) than any other nation in

16 Latin America, ranked 8th in the world in the

17 number of radio stations (160), and first in the

18 world in the number of daily newspapers (58)

19 for a country of its size, now ranks last in the

20 hemisphere in all these categories;

21 (F) Cuba is the only nation in the hemi22 sphere whose number of automobiles per capita

23 has fallen since 1958; and

24 (G) Cuba’s infant mortality rate in 1957

25 was the lowest in Latin America and one of the
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1 lowest in the world, lower than 4 of today’s ‘‘G–

2 7’’ nations.

3 (10) The internal opposition movement

4 throughout Cuba, despite its very limited resources,

5 is working intensely to draw international attention

6 to Cuba’s deplorable human rights situation and

7 continues to strengthen and grow in its opposition to

8 the Castro dictatorship.

9 (11) The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Soli10 darity Act of 1996 authorized the President to sup11 port pro-democracy forces within Cuba and to fur12 nish assistance to victims of political repression.

13 (12) The intent of the Cuban Liberty and

14 Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 to assist the in15 ternal opposition inside Cuba has been insufficiently

16 complied with.

17 (13) Requests for licenses to provide assistance

18 to the internal opposition in Cuba have not been

19 granted.

20 (14) January 1, 2001, marked the 42nd anni21 versary of the absolute power of the totalitarian re22 gime that oppresses the Cuban people.

23 (15) The Cuban dictatorship’s prisons are kept

24 full of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience,

25 of men and women of all ages and all races, evidenc-
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1 ing the rejection by the Cuban people of the brutal

2 regime that oppresses them.

3 (16) The internal opposition is in great need of

4 assistance to continue increasing its efforts to offer

5 the Cuban people a democratic alternative to the

6 current dictatorship.

7 (17) The internal opposition in Cuba is made

8 up of valiant pro-democracy activists who have taken

9 and continue to take grave risks to their personal

10 safety and to their families in order to advance the

11 cause of freedom in Cuba;

12 (18) It is necessary for the United States to

13 take serious steps to assist the Cuban internal oppo14 sition.

15 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

16 The purposes of this Act are—

17 (1) to take advantage of the historic oppor18 tunity created by the increasing efforts and accom19 plishments of courageous independent nongovern20 mental opposition organizations in Cuba to achieve

21 freedom for the Cuban people and to assist the

22 Cuban people to secure the blessings of liberty;

23 (2) to provide democracy assistance to the vic24 tims of the most extreme political repression of the

25 Castro dictatorship, specifically the surviving imme-
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1 diate relatives of those assassinated, political pris2 oners, former political prisoners, military and former

3 military personnel imprisoned for political reasons,

4 internal opposition activists, and their immediate rel5 atives; and

6 (3) to strengthen independent nongovernmental

7 opposition organizations in Cuba committed to the

8 liberation of the Cuban people.

9 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

10 In this Act:

11 (1) INDEPENDENT NONGOVERNMENTAL OPPO12 SITION ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘independent

13 nongovernmental opposition organization’’ means a

14 nongovernmental organization inside Cuba that has

15 demonstrated that it is not an agency or instrumen16 tality of the Cuban Government, as certified annu17 ally by the President, and has publicly or actively

18 made known its opposition to the Cuban Govern19 ment. Evidence of opposition to be taken into ac20 count shall include membership in independent non21 governmental opposition organizations of political

22 prisoners and former political prisoners.

23 (2) INDEPENDENT NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGA24 NIZATION.—The term ‘‘independent nongovern25 mental organization’’ means a nongovernmental or-
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1 ganization that is not an agency or instrumentality

2 of the Cuban Government, nor is controlled by or

3 supportive of the Cuban Government, as certified

4 annually by the President, to facilitate democracy

5 assistance to the victims of the most extreme polit6 ical repression in Cuba.

7 (3) DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘democ8 racy assistance’’ means communications equipment,

9 printing presses, photocopiers, fax machines, pens,

10 paper and other pro-democracy assistance for inde11 pendent nongovernmental opposition organizations

12 and the victims of the most extreme political repres13 sion, as well as humanitarian assistance currently

14 authorized by section 109 of the Cuban Liberty and

15 Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996.

16 (4) VICTIMS OF THE MOST EXTREME POLITICAL

17 REPRESSION.—The term ‘‘victims of the most ex18 treme political repression’’ means any Cuban na19 tional in Cuba who is—

20 (A) a political prisoner or an immediate

21 relative of one;

22 (B) a former political prisoner or an imme23 diate relative of one;
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1 (C) a member or former member of the

2 military imprisoned for political reasons or an

3 immediate relative of one; or

4 (D) an individual active within an inde5 pendent nongovernmental opposition organiza6 tion or an immediate relative of one, or an im7 mediate relative of a Cuban assassinated by the

8 Castro regime.

9 (5) IMMEDIATE RELATIVE.—The term ‘‘imme10 diate relative’’ means the children, spouses, and par11 ents of the most extreme victims of political repres12 sion.

13 SEC. 5. SUPPORT FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE MOST EX14 TREME POLITICAL REPRESSION AND INDE15 PENDENT NONGOVERNMENTAL OPPOSITION

16 ORGANIZATIONS.

17 (a) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AND REQUIREMENTS.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amounts made avail19 able under section 109(a) of the Cuban Liberty and

20 Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6030

21 (a)) or other laws for any fiscal year, the President

22 shall use funds to carry out activities to assist the

23 victims of the most extreme political repression and

24 to assist independent nongovernmental opposition

25 organizations inside Cuba.
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1 (b) VERIFICATION OF ASSISTANCE DISTRIBUTION.—

2 To assure that distribution of assistance is in compliance

3 with the intent of this Act, the President shall ensure such

4 assistance will be delivered only to the victims of the most

5 extreme political repression and to independent non6 governmental opposition organizations.

7 (c) REMITTANCES TO INDEPENDENT NONGOVERN8 MENTAL OPPOSITION ORGANIZATIONS.—The President

9 shall authorize the issuance of licenses to independent

10 nongovernmental organizations to send monetary remit11 tances to independent nongovernmental opposition organi12 zations for the purposes of carrying out activities specified

13 in section 109 of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Soli14 darity Act of 1996.

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