•HRES 208 IH 
Whereas since 1959 there have been countless human rights 
violations committed by the Castro government; 
Whereas on January 3, 2002, police arrested Milagros 
Zeneida Morales of the Independent Workers Labor 
Union on charges of recruiting members for a 
counterrevolutionary organization; 
Whereas on January 30, 2002, the Havana Provincial Court 
sentenced activist Carlos Oquendo Rodriguez to 2 years 
imprisonment for ‘‘contempt for authority’’ and ‘‘public 
disorder’’; the provincial court confirmed the sentence 
levied against Oquendo Rodriguez by a municipal court 
in 2001 and appealed by him to the provincial court; and 
prior to sentencing, police officials offered to suspend 
Oquendo Rodriguez’ sentence if he recanted his political 
beliefs, but Oquendo Rodriguez refused; 
Whereas on February 21, 2002, political prisoner Ariel 
Fleitas Gonzalez advised relatives that prison authorities 
had placed a dangerous common criminal in his cell in 
Canaleta prison to monitor his activities, and that pris-
oner threatened Fleitas Gonzalez when the latter called 
upon officials to respect prisoners’ rights; 
Whereas in late February 2002, police arrested at least 300 
persons near the Mexican Embassy after 21 asylum seek-
ers used a bus to break through the gates of the em-
bassy; many of those arrested were reportedly bystanders 
not involved in the embassy intrusion; rapid response bri-
gades (RRBs) summoned by the Government to the 
Mexican Embassy beat some bystanders; most bystanders 
were interrogated and released, but on March 6th, Fidel 
Castro indicated that 130 of them would be tried on 
charges related to the embassy break-in; and, according
•HRES 208 IH 
to relatives, approximately 60 remained jailed at year’s 
end and none had been tried; 
Whereas on March 4, 2002, state security agents, police, and 
civilian members of an RRB beat blind activist Juan Car-
los Gonzalez Leyva, independent journalist Carlos 
Brizuela Yera, and 8 other activists, who were at a public 
hospital in Ciego de Avila protesting the earlier beating 
of independent journalist Jesus Alvarez Castillo; police 
forcibly removed the protesters from the hospital and ar-
rested them; on August 21st, a municipal court charged 
them with ‘‘contempt for authority, public disorder, dis-
obedience, and resistance’’; prosecutors requested a 6-
year sentence for Gonzalez Leyva; and Gonzalez Leyva 
protested his imprisonment through a liquids-only fast, 
and at year’s end weighed less than 100 pounds; 
Whereas on March 13, 2002, police arrested 7 human rights 
activists in Nueva Gerona, Isle of Youth, as they con-
ducted a public demonstration calling for democratic re-
forms and the release of political prisoners; 
Whereas on March 18, 2002, state security officials arrested 
4 leaders of the Brotherhood of Blind Cubans to prevent 
a demonstration against police mistreatment of handi-
capped street vendors and calling for the release of blind 
dissident Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leyva; police released the 
4 after citing them with ‘‘official warnings’’; 
Whereas on April 17, 2002, police arrested Barbaro Vela 
Coego and Armando Dominguez Gonzalez, president and 
vice president, respectively, of the January 6 Civic Move-
ment, to prevent their attendance at a fast in honor of 
political prisoners; they were held for 2 hours and re-
leased;
•HRES 208 IH 
Whereas on April 21, 2002, members of an RRB beat Grisel 
Almaguer Rodriguez of the Political Prisoners Associa-
tion as she departed the home of human rights activist 
Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz; 
Whereas on April 22, 2002, police arrested Milka Pena Mar-
tinez of the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party for pro-
testing a police search of her home; police also arrested 
Luis Ferrer Garcia of the Christian Liberation Move-
ment, who was present at the time, and Ramon Collazo 
Almaguer, who led a group of dissidents to Pena Mar-
tinez’ home to protest her arrest; Pena Martinez was 
fined and all 3 were released; 
Whereas on May 17, 2002, police went to the home of Pedro 
Veliz, president of the Independent Medical School of 
Cuba, and instructed him to leave Havana for the day to 
prevent his attendance at ceremonies marking the found-
ing of a pre-revolutionary political party; Veliz, along 
with his wife and children, were forced to leave their 
home and were followed by state security officials until 
they left the city; 
Whereas on May 19, 2002, police arrested Nereida Cala 
Escalona and Evelio Manteira Barban as they departed 
a meeting in Santiago de Cuba organized by the Chris-
tian Liberation Movement; they were interrogated, 
threatened with imprisonment, and released on May 
20th; 
Whereas on May 25, 2002, police beat and arrested 4 mem-
bers of the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party affiliated 
with the Andrei Sakharov Foundation who were on their 
way to a mass in honor of a dissident figure; the 4 were 
searched, threatened with imprisonment, fined, and re-
leased;
•HRES 208 IH 
Whereas in early June 2002, common prisoner Hector 
Labrada Ruedas died of internal bleeding after prison au-
thorities refused his requests for medical attention; 
Whereas on June 1, 2002, police arrested 9 activists as they 
departed a human rights course at the illegal NGO Cul-
ture and Democracy Institute in Santiago de Cuba; they 
were interrogated and released on June 2nd; 
Whereas on June 1, 2002, police in Havana province entered 
the neighborhood of Buena Esperanza to remove persons 
from the eastern provinces living in the area without au-
thorization; an unknown number of men were removed in 
trucks on that date, while women and children were given 
72 hours to depart; 
Whereas on June 7, 2002, police arrested 3 members of the 
30th of November Party in Santiago de Cuba; they were 
interrogated and released on June 10th; 
Whereas on June 7, 2002, police forcefully removed 17 per-
sons from the home of activist Migdalia Rosado Her-
nandez, where the group was commemorating the second 
anniversary of the Tamarindo 34 hunger strike; the po-
lice took 14 persons far from their homes and abandoned 
them by the roadside; 3 others were fined and released; 
Whereas on June 14, 2002, state security officials beat and 
arrested independent journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira 
while he was covering a march by human rights activists 
in the Isle of Youth; he was briefly detained, fined 1,200 
pesos, and then released; 
Whereas on June 20, 2002, a guard at Las Ladrilleras prison 
in Holguin province instructed a common prisoner to 
beat political prisoner Daniel Mesa; Mesa reportedly suf-
fered brain damage as a result of the attack;
•HRES 208 IH 
Whereas on June 24, 2002, police blocked access to the home 
of activist Francisco Moure Saladriga to prevent a meet-
ing of members of the Cuban Human Rights Party 
scheduled for that day; 
Whereas in July 2002, prison officials in Ceramica Roja pris-
on denied religious visits to political prisoner Enrique 
Garcia Morejon of the Christian Liberation Movement; 
Garcia Morejon twice requested visits by a Catholic priest 
while the priest was visiting other prisoners; 
Whereas in July 2002, state security officials arrested inde-
pendent journalist Yoel Blanco Garcia and took him to 
a local firehouse where he was interrogated; the state se-
curity officials warned Blanco Garcia not to visit the 
home of Martha Beatriz Roque, director of the Cuban In-
stitute of Independent Economists; 
Whereas on July 24, 2002, police arrested human rights ac-
tivist Adolfo Lazaro Bosq at a vigil for political prisoners 
on charges of ‘‘resistance and contempt for the revolu-
tionary process’’; on August 2nd, a municipal court sen-
tenced him to 1 year and 9 months imprisonment; 
Whereas on July 29, 2002, state security officials arrested 
Rogelio Menendez Diaz, president of the Cuban Munici-
palities for Human Rights; he was held for 35 days in 
Villa Marista prison, where guards transferred him be-
tween chilled and heated cells; during interrogations, 
Menendez Diaz was accused of organizing clandestine 
cells on behalf of exile groups along with activists Angel 
Pablo Polanco and Marcel Valenzuela Salt, who had also 
been detained; Menendez Diaz was charged with ‘‘con-
tempt against the Commander in Chief’’ and warned to 
cease opposition activities; he was released on September 
2nd, but rearrested on December 10th, apparently to pre-