IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 971 
Commemorating the 35th anniversary of broadcasting to Cuba. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 15, 2020 
Mr. DIAZ-BALART submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Commemorating the 35th anniversary of broadcasting to 
Cuba. 
Whereas the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act passed by a 
wide margin in the House of Representatives on Sep-
tember 29, 1983, and passed with strong voice vote sup-
port in the Senate on September 12, 1983; 
Whereas upon signing the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act 
into law on October 4, 1983, President Ronald Reagan 
said that the law ‘‘responds to an important foreign pol-
icy initiative of my administration: to break Fidel Cas-
tro’s monopoly on news and information within Cuba’’ 
and further explained that the purpose of providing im-
partial news to the Cuban people was so that they ‘‘will 
be in a better position to make Cuba’s leaders account-
able for their conduct in foreign policy, economic man-
agement, and human rights’’; 
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Whereas radio service into Cuba was named ‘‘Radio Marti’’ 
after renowned 19th century Cuban patriot Jose Marti; 
Whereas, on May 20, 1985, the 83rd anniversary of Cuba’s 
Independence Day, Radio Marti began its first broadcast 
into Cuba; 
Whereas, in 1990, the Congress passed and President George 
H.W. Bush signed into law a bill expanding broadcasting 
to include television through the Television Broadcasting 
to Cuba Act, and ‘‘Television Marti’’ broadcasting began 
later that year; 
Whereas President William Jefferson Clinton signed into law 
the Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropria-
tions Act of 1996, which required the relocation of the 
Office of Cuba Broadcasting from Washington, DC, to 
south Florida; 
Whereas the Office of Cuba Broadcasting was relocated to 
Miami, Florida, in 1998, ahead of schedule and under 
budget; 
Whereas United States broadcasts to Cuba were initiated to 
pierce the Castro regime’s information blockade to pro-
vide timely and reliable information to the Cuban people; 
Whereas the Office of Cuba Broadcasting oversees Radio and 
Television Martı´; 
Whereas Radio and TV Martı´ are a multimedia hub of news, 
information, and analysis that provide the people of Cuba 
with interactive programs 7 days a week through satellite 
television and shortwave and AM radio, as well as 
through flash drives, emails, DVDs, and SMS text; 
Whereas Radio and TV Martı´ aim to inform and engage the 
people of Cuba by providing credible news and informa-
tion that encourages freedom and democracy; 
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•HRES 971 IH 
Whereas the Office of Cuba Broadcasting uses shortwave, 
medium wave, direct-to-home satellite, satellite radio, 
internet, social media, flash drives, and DVDs to help 
reach audiences in Cuba; 
Whereas the Office of Cuba Broadcasting provides a critical 
service by connecting Cubans across provinces, and link-
ing Cuban pro-democracy activists with an expanding 
worldwide network of activists engaged in their own 
struggles for freedom and human rights in their respec-
tive countries; 
Whereas Karen Caballero of Radio and TV Martı´ received 
the David Burke Award in 2012 for her inspired cov-
erage of the ‘‘Lights of Liberty Flotilla’’, a small group 
of boats with a mission to sail across the Florida Strait 
to bring attention to the solidarity between Cuban exiles 
and those on the island, and to the human rights abuses 
perpetrated by the regime in Cuba; 
Whereas, in 2017, Television Martı´’s ‘‘Alas de Libertad’’ 
(Wings of Freedom), which documented activities of the 
Brigade 2506 Air Force division during the 1961 Bay of 
Pigs invasion, received the Suncoast Regional Emmy 
Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & 
Sciences; 
Whereas, on July 14, 2011, independent journalist and 
former political prisoner Jose Daniel Ferrer said, ‘‘the 
particular stories, the news selected for A Fondo [a joint 
Voice of America and Radio Marti program], is what 
gives the show its quality, very professional. I listened to 
the show in prison on a daily basis.’’; 
Whereas, on May 30, 2013, Berta Soler, leader of the pro- 
democracy group the Ladies in White, stated while vis-
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•HRES 971 IH 
iting the Office of Cuba Broadcasting while appearing on 
the ‘‘Con Voz Propia’’ (‘‘In Their Own Voice’’) program, 
‘‘I feel like I am home. I wake up [in Cuba] with this 
show every morning, and I can’t believe I am here!’’; and 
Whereas, on August 13, 2013, Afro-Cuban activist and 
former political prisoner Jorge Luis Garcı´a-Pe´rez stated, 
‘‘In the 17 years that I spent behind bars, Radio Martı´ 
was, at times, my ‘everything’. It was my lifeline.’’: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes the vital role that broadcasting 
to Cuba serves in providing uncensored, outside in-
formation to the Cuban people over the past 35 
years; 
(2) honors the journalists, programming edi-
tors, technical support, and many other employees at 
Radio and TV Martı´, administered through the Of-
fice of Cuba Broadcasting, for their steadfast com-
mitment, hard work, and dedication to informing the 
Cuban people; 
(3) remembers the deep and lasting contribu-
tions that broadcasting to Cuba has provided to the 
Cuban people in bolstering Cuba’s pro-democracy 
movement; and 
(4) celebrates the United States policy of pro-
moting democracy and providing outside information 
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to some of the most of the repressed parts of the 
world. 
Æ 
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