IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 132 
Expressing the sense of Congress that with respect to the totalitarian govern-
ment of Cuba, the United States should pursue a policy that insists 
upon freedom, democracy, and human rights, including the release of 
all political prisoners, the legalization of political parties, free speech 
and a free press, and supervised elections, before increasing United 
States trade and tourism to Cuba. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 20, 2009 
Mr. TIAHRT (for himself, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. MARIO 
DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. SIRES, Mr. BURTON 
of Indiana, Mr. MACK, Mr. SHULER, and Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ) 
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that with respect to the 
totalitarian government of Cuba, the United States 
should pursue a policy that insists upon freedom, democ-
racy, and human rights, including the release of all polit-
ical prisoners, the legalization of political parties, free 
speech and a free press, and supervised elections, before 
increasing United States trade and tourism to Cuba. 
Whereas in the aftermath of overthrowing the government in 
1959, Fidel Castro reneged on his promise to return to 
constitutional rule and democratic elections and instead 
consolidated his power through intense political repres-
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•HCON 132 IH 
sion and the imprisonment or execution of thousands of 
opponents; 
Whereas under Raul Castro and Fidel Castro, the Cuban 
people continue to be oppressed and dissidents regularly 
brutalized; 
Whereas in 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower imposed a 
partial embargo on Cuba by prohibiting exports, except 
for nonsubsidized food and medicines, in response to the 
regime’s actions and every president since then has 
upheld, and even strengthened, the embargo in response 
to the treatment of the Cuban people; 
Whereas Cuba’s communist regime controls the government, 
the economy, health care, education, and the daily lives 
of the Cuban people; 
Whereas according to the 2008 United States Department of 
State’s Country Report on Human Rights, Cuba is a to-
talitarian state with a government that continues to deny 
its citizens basic human rights and continues to commit 
numerous serious human rights abuses; 
Whereas in May 2009, the Castro regime further limited ac-
cess to the Internet for Cuban citizens; 
Whereas over 25,000 Cubans signed onto the Valera Project 
petition to open opportunities for free and responsible 
participation for all Cuban citizens in the political and 
economic life of Cuban society for which the Castro gov-
ernment cracked down on supporters during the ‘‘Black 
Spring’’ of 2003 and arrested 75 journalists, union mem-
bers, and activists, more than 50 of whom remain in pris-
on under inhumane conditions; 
Whereas the Cuban Government routinely violates the United 
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 
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•HCON 132 IH 
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or 
Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Protection 
of Persons Subjected to Detention or Imprisonment; 
Whereas according to Human Rights Watch, ‘‘Cuba has de-
veloped a highly effective machinery of repression. The 
denial of basic civil and political rights is written into 
Cuban law. In the name of legality, armed security 
forces, aided by state-controlled mass organizations, si-
lence dissent with heavy prison terms, threats of prosecu-
tion, harassment, or exile. Cuba uses these tools to re-
strict severely the exercise of fundamental human rights 
of expression, association, and assembly’’; 
Whereas in its 2007 annual report, the Inter-American Com-
mission on Human Rights reported that the Cuban Gov-
ernment’s ‘‘restrictions on political rights, freedom of ex-
pression, and dissemination of ideas have created, over a 
period of decades, a situation of permanent and system-
atic violations of the fundamental rights of Cuban citi-
zens’’; 
Whereas there are estimated to be at least 205 political pris-
oners in 2009; 
Whereas the government detains many more dissidents on a 
short-term basis, including 1500 in 2008; 
Whereas Amnesty International reports that some released 
political dissenters had been imprisoned as long as 28 
years; 
Whereas the average wage for a Cuban worker was estimated 
in 2007 to be about $20 a month; 
Whereas foreign medical tourists and government officials re-
ceive health care that is not available to the Cuban peo-
ple; 
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•HCON 132 IH 
Whereas the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba’s 
2006 Report to the President asserts that ‘‘the Castro re-
gime is failing to address even the most basic humani-
tarian needs of the Cuban people. Chronic malnutrition, 
polluted water, and untreated chronic diseases continue 
to affect a significant percentage of the Cuban people’’; 
Whereas the Castro regime rations food and provides inad-
equate nutrition to the Cuban people; 
Whereas housing and infrastructure conditions for the aver-
age Cuban remain some of the worst in the world; 
Whereas communism has decimated the Cuban economy; 
Whereas inflation-adjusted gross domestic product is a mere 
5 percent of what it was in 1958; 
Whereas in 1952, Cuba produced 7 million tons of sugar and 
it produced 1.5 million tons in 2008; 
Whereas beginning in 1959, Castro began nationalizing 
United States assets in Cuba; 
Whereas Article 18 of the 1976 Cuban Constitution man-
dates that ‘‘the state controls and directs foreign trade’’ 
and therefore there is no private Cuban market for 
United States goods; 
Whereas the Communist party, government officials, and 
military forces have access to resources and luxuries de-
nied to the Cuban people; 
Whereas Forbes has conservatively estimated Fidel Castro’s 
personal fortune to be $900 million; 
Whereas engagement with the Cuban dictatorship by the rest 
of the world has not eased any of the suffering brought 
upon innocent Cuban families by the Castro regime; 
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•HCON 132 IH 
Whereas trade with the rest of the world has not eased any 
of the suffering brought upon innocent Cuban families by 
the Castro regime; 
Whereas the Cuban Government does not pay all of its bills 
and in 2008, held over $30 billion in debt to creditors in 
addition to over $20 billion in debt still owed from the 
Soviet era; 
Whereas increased tourism has not eased any of the suffering 
brought upon innocent Cuban families by the Castro re-
gime; 
Whereas the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs 
warns that ‘‘any interactions with average Cubans, re-
gardless of how well intentioned the American may be, 
can subject that Cuban to harassment and/or detention, 
and other forms of repressive actions, by state security 
elements.’’; 
Whereas Cuban Government takes a 20 percent cut of all re-
mittances sent to the nation by Cuban-Americans and 
another 10 percent exchange fee of checks; 
Whereas any consumer goods the people on the island pur-
chase must be purchased in the regime’s ‘‘company 
stores’’ and with worthless ‘‘vouchers’’ called ‘‘convertible 
pesos’’ sold by the regime; 
Whereas the dictator takes up to 30 percent of all hard cur-
rency ‘‘off the top’’ at the time island residents purchase 
the ‘‘vouchers’’, and all hard currency must be spent with 
purchased ‘‘vouchers’’ in the regime’s ‘‘company stores’’; 
Whereas since 2002, the United States has been the largest 
supplier of food and agricultural products to Cuba and 
there has not been marked improvement in the lives of 
the Cuban people; 
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•HCON 132 IH 
Whereas lifting the United States restriction on travel would 
put at least $5 billion to $6 billion directly into the gov-
ernment’s and military’s hands every year; 
Whereas the Communist government of Cuba has long stated 
its intention to cause harm to the United States, allied 
with the Soviet Union and others against the United 
States in Grenada and elsewhere, supported revolution-
aries such as Che Guevara, and remains allied with gov-
ernments such as Venezuela that wish to undermine the 
United States Government; 
Whereas since 1982, Cuba has been designated a state spon-
sor of terrorism by the United States Department of 
State; 
Whereas the Cuban military has close bilateral ties with 
North Korea and Iran; 
Whereas Cuba is a safe haven and medical outpost for Co-
lombia narco-trafficking guerrillas; 
Whereas there are over 1.2 million people in the United 
States of Cuban descent; 
Whereas most Cuban-Americans came to the United States 
as political exiles; 
Whereas according to a McLaughlin and Associates poll, 72 
percent of Cuban-Americans strongly support continuing 
the trade embargo and 69 percent support the prohibi-
tion of tourist travel to Cuba; 
Whereas Cuban-Americans have contributed to United States 
society in a myriad of ways; 
Whereas the United States supports Cuban democracy move-
ments and from FY2001–FY2007, provided almost $71 
million in funding for such efforts; 
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