Commending the courage, bravery, and resolve of the fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters of Cuba, who, three years ago, stood in the face of brutal harassment, beatings, and torture to protest against the Communist Cuban regime, demanding access to their fundamental rights to life, dignity, and freedom.

Bill: 118-hres-1351
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Diaz-Balart, Mario [R-FL-26]
Introduced: 2024-07-10
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2024-07-10
text: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Summaries:

tv_txt: IV 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1351 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 10, 2024 Mr. Diaz-Balart (for himself, Mr. McCaul , Mr. Gimenez , Ms. Salazar , Mr. Mooney , Mr. Waltz , Ms. Malliotakis , Mrs. Cammack , and Mrs. González-Colón ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Commending the courage, bravery, and resolve of the fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters of Cuba, who, three years ago, stood in the face of brutal harassment, beatings, and torture to protest against the Communist Cuban regime, demanding access to their fundamental rights to life, dignity, and freedom.

Whereas July 11, 2024, marks three years since the historic, pro-democracy demonstration in Cuba when thousands of courageous Cubans took to the streets in more than 40 cities, across all provinces, to demand access to their freedoms and civil liberties and call for an end to communism, censorship, and the oppression imposed by the totalitarian Cuban regime; Whereas, in an attempt to silence the Cuban people and prevent future protests from taking place, the Cuban dictatorship responded with a wave of terror, repression, and criminalization and detained and persecuted more than 1,400 protestors, including women and children; Whereas, in a crude and savage effort to silence the Cuban people, the Communist regime cut internet connectivity and mobile services throughout Cuba, which hindered the Cuban people from organizing and hid from the outside world images and videos of the oppressive and brutal crackdown by the regime; Whereas totalitarian regimes such as Communist China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and Nicaragua surveil and repress their citizens in a similar manner to the Cuban regime, with China, according to reports, even establishing an electronic eavesdropping facility in Cuba to spy on Americans and citizens of China abroad; Whereas the ongoing imprisonment of José Daniel Ferrer García, a Cuban human rights and democracy activist who has worked tirelessly to advocate for fundamental civil liberties for the Cuban people, has suffered from the tactics of the brutal, despotic regime in Cuba, which aims to silence anyone who would dare speak out against its cruelty and barbarity; Whereas, according to José Daniel Ferrer García’s family in January 2022, since his unlawful arrest on July 11, 2021, he had been subjected to months of solitary confinement, physical and psychological torture, and inhumane treatment from Cuban operatives, resulting in dire health conditions; Whereas José Daniel Ferrer García suffers from severe headaches, breathing problems, mouth bleeding, malnutrition, vision loss, and bouts of coughing with an inability to sleep, can barely sit in a chair properly, and shows physical signs of repeated torture; Whereas, three years into his ongoing and unjust imprisonment by the Communist regime, José Daniel Ferrer García continues to be subjected to evil, inhumane treatment and has not had contact with his family; Whereas, like José Daniel Ferrer García, three years after the historic demonstration, an unknown number of protesters remain in prison, including minors, many are being held without access to or communication with family members, international human rights organizations, or legal counsel, and some have even been disappeared; Whereas, in an effort to intimidate Cubans from daring to protest again, the Cuban regime has held mass sham trials that lack any semblance of due process and has imposed disproportionate prison terms of up to 25 years for ill-defined charges such as public disorder, contempt, or violence such as rock-throwing, according to media reports; Whereas the brutal and illegitimate Communist regime represses the brave and resilient men and women of Cuba who stand resolute in speaking out against the regime’s humanitarian crimes and efforts to persecute, kidnap, torture, and eventually kill anyone who stands up against its tyranny; Whereas unilateral concessions to the Cuban regime in the form of weakened economic sanctions have effectively rewarded malicious governance, leading to more despicable and resolute repression of the Cuban people; Whereas the corruption and failures of Cuba’s closed, Communist economy, in which many industries are run by the Cuban military, have failed the people of Cuba; and Whereas the international community should stand in solidarity with the Cuban people in condemning the human rights atrocities committed by the brutal, illegitimate, totalitarian, Communist regime and should demand freedom and democracy for the men, women, and children of Cuba: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) commends the bravery, courage, and resolve of the members of the pro-democracy movement and all freedom activists in Cuba for risking their lives to bring freedom to the Cuban people; (2) condemns the repression of the hundreds of pro-democracy activists and political prisoners, including children, that the Cuban regime is unjustly detaining and subjecting to physical and psychological torture, and calls for their immediate and unconditional release; (3) condemns the Cuban regime’s brutal, totalitarian dictatorship and demands an end to the suffering of the men, women, and children of Cuba and the impunity of the regime’s human rights abusers; (4) calls for the international community to stand with the Cuban people and speak out against Cuba’s repressive acts and infringement on fundamental freedoms, such as expression, belief, and assembly; and (5) urges the Biden administration to put democracy, human rights, and civil liberties at the core of its Cuba policy by ceasing to provide unilateral concessions to the oppressive Cuban regime and by tightening sanctions on the Cuban regime until all conditions in United States law for removing sanctions are met.