•HCON 81 EH
1,000 years in prison for trying to exercise their civil and
political rights, many of whom are anticipated to die in
prison before their sentence is completed;
Whereas the Charter of the United Nations reaffirms a com-
mitment to fundamental human rights and to the dignity
and worth of all people;
Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which
establishes global human rights standards, asserts that
all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights, and that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary ar-
rest or detention;
Whereas these arrests and convictions were an atrocious at-
tempt by the Cuban regime to crush the citizens’ move-
ments for a free and democratic Cuba;
Whereas Fidel Castro has tentatively released a limited num-
ber of prisoners from jail but these political activists are
subject to arrest and imprisonment at any time pursuant
to ‘‘extra penal licenses’’;
Whereas in 2004, the Cuban regime continued its suppres-
sion of democracy and repression of human rights activ-
ists, imprisoning a significant number of political dis-
sidents during the year on such charges as disrespect for
authority, public disorder, disobedience, and resisting ar-
rest;
Whereas in April 2004, the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights adopted a resolution deploring the sen-
tencing of ‘‘political dissidents and journalists’’ in 2003
and calling for a visit to Cuba by a Personal Representa-
tive of the High Commissioner for Human Rights which
was later denied by the Cuban regime;
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Whereas Fidel Castro continues to hold hundreds of political
prisoners in his jail cells;
Whereas Amnesty International has recognized all journalists
and activists who were arrested in the crackdown in
March 2003 as prisoners of conscience;
Whereas the Cuban regime engages in torture and other
cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment and punish-
ment against political prisoners to force them into sub-
mission, including intense beatings, extended periods of
solitary confinement, and denial of nutritional and med-
ical attention, according to the Department of State’s
Country Report on Human Rights 2004;
Whereas religious freedom in Cuba is severely circumscribed,
and clergy and lay people suffer sustained persecution by
the Cuban State Security apparatus;
Whereas the Cuban regime denies the people of Cuba equal
protection under the law, disallows them recourse for
remedying violations of human rights and civil liberties,
and instead enforces a judicial system which infringes
upon fundamental rights; and
Whereas the United States Congress has stood, consistently,
on the side of the Cuban people and supported their right
to be free: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That Congress—
(1) condemns in the strongest possible terms
the arrest of more than 75 journalists, labor union
organizers, civic leaders, librarians, and human
rights activists as political prisoners in March 2003
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and the Cuban regime’s continuing repressive crack-
down against the brave internal opposition and the
independent press;
(2) expresses its profound admiration and firm
solidarity with the internal opposition and inde-
pendent press of Cuba;
(3) demands that the Cuban regime imme-
diately release all political prisoners, legalize all po-
litical parties, labor unions, and the press, and hold
free and fair elections;
(4) declares the acts of the Cuban regime, in-
cluding its widespread and systematic violation of
human rights, to be in violation of the Charter of
the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights;
(5) declares that the rule of law should replace
the rule of force so that the fundamental and in-
alienable rights of every individual in Cuba are pro-
tected;
(6) calls for the European Union, as well as
other countries and international organizations, to
continue to pressure the Cuban regime to improve
its human rights record; and
(7) calls for United Nations member countries
to vote against the Cuban regime’s membership in
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the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
and the passage of a resolution at the 61st session
of the United Nations Commission on Human
Rights that holds the Cuban regime accountable for
its gross violations of human rights and civil lib-
erties.
Passed the House of Representatives April 27, 2005.
Attest:
Clerk.