Date: 2010-04-27
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. the Ladies in White are a group of wives. mothers. sisters. and daughters of Cuban political prisoners. The group came together after the arrests of 75 Cuban dissidents in April 2003. Seventyfive Cuban political prisoners who. 7 years ago. joined the thousands of others who are imprisoned in Cuba because of their political beliefs or for "crimes" that are only "crimes" in a country brutally oppressed by a totalitarian regime of gangsters. by gangsters. and for gangsters. Because that is what the Castro brothers aregangsters. Fidel Castro has been a gangster since he was a juvenile delinquent. He became a Communist to give ideological clothing to his gangsterism. Raul Castro came to gangsterism via MarxismLeninism. after his brother sent him as an almost illiterate adolescent to thenCzechoslovakia. where he received a rigorous indoctrination in MarxismLeninism. So the brothers arrived at gangsterism via separate paths. but they are both experienced and ruthless practitioners of the most violent and brutal forms of gangsterism. The Ladies in White experience the tactics of the Castros gangsterism every single day. The Castros state security apparatus pays and trains thugs to strike fear in the hearts of all Cubans in order to keep the regime in power. The thugs. the plainclothes terrorists of the Castros regime. harass. intimidate. insult. spit upon. and engage in violence against the unarmed dissidents and other independent civil society members in Cuba. These spectacles are known as "acts of repudiation." The international press refers to the plainclothes thugs of the Castros state security apparatus as "civilian government supporters." but that doesnt change their true nature. No. theyre not "plainclothes government supporters." Theyre plainclothes thugs of Cuban state security. On recent Sundays. the Ladies in White have gone to church. as every Sunday. to pray for their family members who are political prisoners. and the thugs have become more violent. Protected by uniformed state security agents. the plainclothes thugs have spat upon and committed acts of violence against Laura Pollan. Bertha Soler. Reina Tamayo. Julia Esther Nunez. Asuncion Carrillo. Loida Valdez. Laura Maria Labrada. and the other Ladies in White. I hereby submit for the RECORD the names of 96 Ladies in White who have been actively demanding the release of Cuban political prisoners in recent months. 1. Martha Diaz Rond6n 2. Regla Vaillant Planas 3. Mildre Noemi Sanchez Infante 4. Ercilia Correoso Perez 5. Maritza Castro Martinez 6. Blanca Hernandez Moya 7. Lilia Castafer Hernandez 8. Ivonne Malleza Galano 9. Deysi Lazara Suarez Martinez 10. Odalys Sanabria Rodriguez 11. Caridad Caballero Batista 12. Zoila Hernandez Diaz 13. Gertrudis Ojeda Suarez 14. Niurkis Rivero Despaigne 15. Mercedes Fresneda Castillo 16. Sara Martha Fonseca Acevedo 17. Ismari Salom6n Carcas6s 18. Tania Montoya Vazquez 19. Yolanda Martinez Guerra 20. Guadalupe Varela Mora 21. Zayli Figueroa Acosta 22. Odalys Zurman Gonzalez 23. Barbara Couyedo Riego 24. Miriam Espinosa del Valle 25. Doraida Perez Paceiro 26. Iris Tamara Perez Aguilera 27. Mayra Morej6n Hernandez 28. Mari Blanca Avila Esp6sito 29. Petra Serafina Diaz Castillo 30. Rosario Morales La Rosa 31. Sonia Garro Alfonso 32. Maylisis Abrahantes Mufioz 33. Juana G6mez Riego 34. Yudermis Fonseca Rond6n 35. Crispina Xiomara Duquesne Suarez 36. Doralis Alvares Soto 37. Ana Iris Vega Rodriguez 38. Lazara M. Caballero Betancourt 39. Marlenis Guerra Martin 40. Nerys Castillo Moreno 41. Tania Maceda Guerra 42. Caridad Sarduy Fernandez 43. Raquel Castillo Urquiza 44. Sandra Guerra Perez 45. Maria Elena Fernandez 46. Yaneris Perez Rey 47. Roxaida Ramirez Matos 48. Dulce Avalo Diaz 50. Ariela Riviaux Castillo 51. Evelia Hernandez Ravelo 52. Georgina Noa Monte 53. Belinda Barzaga Lugo 54. Marioris Moreno Noa 55. Xiomara Duquesne Suarez 56. Mirtha G6mez Colas 57. Madeline Lazara Betancourt 58. Yaquelin Cutifio 59. Gladis Lugo Exp6sito 60. Dulce Maria Quintana 61. Suyoanis Tapia Mayeta 62. Leonor Reynord Borges 63. Leydi Coca Quesada 64. Noely Camila Araujo Molina 65. Yordanka Pefna L6pez 66. Yeni Palenzuela Izquierdo 67. Ana Aguililla 68. Laura Ines Pollan Toledo 69. Bertha Soler Fernandez 70. Melba Santana Ariz 71. Reyna Luisa Tamayo Danger 72. Belkis Cantillo Ramirez 73. Alejandrina Garcia de la Rivas 74. Julia Nufnez Pacheco 75. N61ida Borrego Arag6n 76. Reyna Maria Ortiz Tamayo 77. Milka Maria Pefna Martinez 78. Ana Belkis Ferrer Garcia 79. Loida Valdes Gonzalez 80. Lidia Esther Lima Valdes 81. Magaly Broche de la Cruz 82. Isabel Sanchez Altarriba 83. Yamile Velazquez Batista 84. Sonia Alvarez Campillo 85. Asunci6n Carrillo Hernandez 86. Irene Viera Filloy 87. Barbara Rojo Arias 88. Iraida Soledad Rivas Verdecia 89. Amada Evelia Hernandez Ravel 90. Catalina Cano 91. Elsa Gonzalez Padr6n 92. Belkis Barzaga Lugo 93. Gisela Delgado Sabl6n 94. Noelia Pedraza Jimenez 95. Nancy Sanchez Altarriba 96. Mercedes Acosta antiago de Cuba I also submit for the RECORD a letter sent today by representatives of the Ladies in White outside of Cuba. Blanca Reyes Castanon and Yolanda Huerga. asking international leaders for support in the Ladies in Whites struggle for human rights and liberty. DEAR SIR. We write you as the Representatives of the Ladies in White in Europe and the United States. to seek your urgent attention for the current plight of Cubas political prisoners and their families. The Ladies in White are members of independent civil society and the group was born spontaneously. seven years ago. as a result of the arrest of 75 members of the peaceful opposition by the Cuban regime during the Black Spring of 2003. Wives. mothers. sisters. and daughters of these prisoners only ask for the right to see their unjustly jailed relatives freed. By this means we seek to ask. that as a representative of a democratic nation where human rights and freedom of speech are respected. that you attempt. and within your ability. interest yourself personally and seek the attention of those individuals and institutions that you see fit. to defend these women. and their relatives. so that all hostility that they suffer in the streets of Havana and in all of Cuba cease. both physically and verbally. for defending their right to freedom. We thank you for your time and cooperation. and we trust in your invaluable help. at the same time that we insist that the current situation is extremely delicate and dangerous. Respectfully.