IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 868 
Condemning the comments of Senator and Democratic Socialist Presidential 
candidate, Bernie Sanders (I–VT), disregarding the history of systemic 
human rights abuses, forced indoctrination, and authoritarian actions 
of the literacy and education policies of the Communist Castro dictator-
ship in Cuba. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 27, 2020 
Mr. DIAZ-BALART (for himself, Ms. CHENEY, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. WALTZ, Mr. 
GONZALEZ of Ohio, Mr. SCALISE, Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N of Puerto Rico, 
Ms. SHALALA, and Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL) submitted the following res-
olution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning the comments of Senator and Democratic So-
cialist Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders (I–VT), 
disregarding the history of systemic human rights 
abuses, forced indoctrination, and authoritarian actions 
of the literacy and education policies of the Communist 
Castro dictatorship in Cuba. 
Whereas, on February 23, 2020, during a ‘‘60 Minutes’’ 
interview aired on CBS, Senator Bernie Sanders refused 
to condemn the Communist dictatorship of Fidel Castro 
in Cuba outright and expressed support for the literacy 
and education policies of the dictatorship; 
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•HRES 868 IH 
Whereas, on February 24, 2020, during a televised town hall 
in Charleston, South Carolina, Senator Bernie Sanders 
defended his remarks praising the literacy and education 
policies of the Castro dictatorship in Cuba; 
Whereas, on February 25, 2020, during the Democratic Pres-
idential debate in Charleston, South Carolina, Senator 
Bernie Sanders further stated: ‘‘Cuba made progress on 
education’’ and ‘‘when dictatorships, whether it is the 
Chinese or the Cubans do something good, you acknowl-
edge that’’; 
Whereas the literacy and education policy of the tyrannical 
Castro dictatorship served to indoctrinate the Cuban peo-
ple with Marxist-Communist ideology and anti-United 
States sentiment; 
Whereas the objective of the Castro regime’s literacy and 
education policies was to promote loyalty and reverence 
for Fidel Castro above all else; 
Whereas Fidel Castro and the Communist Party of Cuba 
blocked access to independent sources of information and 
imposed outright censorship of books, libraries, and edu-
cational sources; 
Whereas Cubans who resisted Communist indoctrination by 
Fidel Castro and his regime risked human rights abuses 
including violence, imprisonment, and execution; 
Whereas most Cubans indoctrinated by the regime’s edu-
cation system were forced to work for the state; 
Whereas the revolution led by Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1959 
started 60 years of an ongoing dictatorship, systemic 
human rights abuses, and a lack of basic freedoms of 
press, religion, assembly, and association that continue to 
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•HRES 868 IH 
this day under the Communist oppression of Raul Castro 
and his puppet, Miguel Diaz-Canel; 
Whereas by the early 1960’s Fidel Castro held as many as 
60,000 political prisoners; 
Whereas killings ordered by Fidel Castro are estimated to be 
as high as 17,000; 
Whereas over 1,000,000 Cubans were forced to flee their 
homeland and risked their lives to escape the Castro dic-
tatorship; 
Whereas prior to the Castro regime, from 1953 to 1958, ac-
cording to professor emeritus at the University of Pitts-
burgh Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Cuba’s infant mortality rate 
was the lowest in the region; 
Whereas a State Department report, ‘‘Zenith and Eclipse: A 
Comparative Look at Socio-Economic Conditions in Pre- 
Castro and Present Day Cuba’’, indicated that in 1957 
Cuba had an infant mortality rate of 32 per 1,000 births, 
the lowest in Latin America and the 13th lowest in the 
world; 
Whereas prior to Castro’s Communists seizing power, Cuba 
led virtually all countries in Latin America in the cat-
egory of life expectancy in 1959; 
Whereas prior to the Castro regime, in 1957, Cuba had lower 
infant mortality than France, Belgium, West Germany, 
Israel, Japan, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Portugal; 
Whereas the Cuban dictatorship today under Raul Castro 
and his puppet, Miguel Diaz-Canel, continues to stifle 
dissent through violence and harassment and violate the 
basic human rights of the Cuban people; 
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•HRES 868 IH 
Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba continues to export 
its Communist, anti-American, and authoritarian ideology 
throughout the Western Hemisphere and bolsters author-
itarian regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua; and 
Whereas Communism has claimed at least 100,000,000 vic-
tims, and has led to financial ruin and brutal oppression 
in Asia, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns the comments of Senator and 
Democratic Socialist Presidential candidate, Bernie 
Sanders (I–VT), disregarding the history of systemic 
human rights abuses, forced indoctrination, and au-
thoritarian actions of the literacy and education poli-
cies of the Communist Castro dictatorship in Cuba; 
(2) condemns the use of firing squads, impris-
onment, torture, and acts of repudiation to suppress 
dissent in totalitarian Cuba, as well as the forced 
Communist indoctrination policies carried out by the 
Castro dictatorship in Cuba; 
(3) rejects the false claims that healthcare, lit-
eracy, and education have improved under the Cas-
tro regime; 
(4) calls for democratic government, liberation 
of all political prisoners, freedom of belief and ex-
pression, and the respect of all basic human rights 
for the Cuban people; and 
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(5) stands in solidarity with the Cuban people 
in their struggle to achieve essential freedoms and 
liberties. 
Æ 
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