Date: 2010-03-23
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Thank you. I want to thank Congressman MARIO DIAZBALART for convening us here this evening. And. MARIO. if you may. leave Biscet because Im going to read first a statement he sent out. along with five other heroes on March 3. And Id like to start by. as I was saying. thanking you for convening us. and by pointing out who the heroes and genuine representatives of Cuba are. There have not been free elections for many decades. and so the people cannot express themselves. When they are able to express themselves. these heroes and others like them. who. today enjoy the moral authority arising from their conduct. will have political authority. They will be elected at the municipal level. at the provincial level. at the national level as the leaders of Cuba. They are the representatives of the Cuban people. Dr. Biscet. whose photograph is on top there. and five other heroes. managed to send a statement from their prison. They are in one of the gulags of the Castro brothers. and they sent out a statement on March 3. and Id like to read it: We continue to suffer cruel treatment. inhuman. degrading treatment and even torture in the Communist regimes prisons. We ask all who support Cubas freedom to. between March 12 and March 31. unite in short periods of fasting and study of the Bible. demanding the liberation of all political prisoners and liberty and democracy in Cuba. Please engage in short fasts and prayer sessions in your homes. churches or other public gathering places. And speak out in articles. in conferences. to reflect upon and implement and help implement. through peaceful. just and patriotic means. the longsought objectives of the Cuban people. Oscar Elias Biscet. whose photograph is there. Julio Cesar Galvez. Ricardo Gonzales. Normando Hernandez. Tres Iglesias and Angel Moya. Those six heroes sent out the statement that I read. A few days ago I was able to be in Lithuania. where I was invited to help form the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies. Over 100 nations belong to the Community of Democracies. and Lithuania. a small country with extraordinary moral authority. is chairing the Community of Democracies. and had the initiative and the idea of the formation of a parliamentary forum. And I was honored to be elected one of the seven vice presidents. The new president of that nowestablished parliamentary forum. Chairman Zingeris. of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Parliament. made a motion in the first meeting of the parliamentary forum in Lithuania a few days ago. and drafted a resolution in furtherance of the request of Dr. Biscet and the other heroes. And Id like to read it: Resolution. in the convening meeting of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies calling for support of Cubas prodemocracy movement. Whereas. the prodemocracy movement in Cuba has grown at a rapid pace over the last 3 years. and specific expressions of the movement are evident today in the explosion of bloggers on the island. independent journalists. musicians. artists. writers and others who are using their talents to denounce the atrocities of the dictatorship. all while putting forth new ideas for the transition to democracy. Whereas there are still extraordinary obstacles to overcome such as the continued repression by the totalitarian dictatorship. extremely limited access to the Internet and texting capabilities and a lack of a coherent message of solidarity from the international community. Whereas the dictatorship is fearful of the growth of the prodemocracy movement. Whereas the message of the movement is coherent and clear in demanding freedom for all Cuban political prisoners. beginning with those who are gravely ill inside the prisons. freedom of expression and free. fair multiparty elections with international supervision. Whereas this common position of the Cuban prodemocracy movement requires greater recognition. dissemination and solidarity on the part of the Community of Democracies. Whereas now more than ever the Cuban prodemocracy movement requires that the democratic community take concrete steps to demonstrate its solidarity. Now. therefore. be it resolved that the Community of Democracies Parliamentary Forum condemns the brutality of the Cuban regime against Cuban political prisoners. expresses its full support for the Cuban prodemocracy movement. honors Cuban prodemocracy fighters. such as the martyr. Orlando Zapata Tamayo. and expresses its admiration for the efforts of other heroes such as Guillermo Farinas. calls for the immediate release of all Cuban political prisoners and for free multiparty elections in Cuba. and calls on the democratic community to take concrete steps in demonstrating their solidarity with the Cuban prodemocracy movement by providing humanitarian and technological assistance to the prodemocracy movement. urging foreign diplomatic posts in Havana to strengthen contacts with prodemocracy activists on the island. and encouraging foreign dignitaries to visit Cuba for the sole purpose of meeting with prodemocratic activists. and looking for opportunities to reiterate and support the common position of the Cuban prodemocracy movement in the international community. That resolution passed at the convening meeting of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies in Vilnius. Lithuania on 12 I see a distinguished colleague of ours. There is no one who I admire more than CHRISTOPHER SMITH. who has joined us. And before yielding back to you Congressman. MARIO DIAzBALART. the floor. I would like to make reference to two items. First. I will put in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD a list of 25 gravely ill political prisoners in Cuba who are the reason for the hunger strike of Guillermo Farinas. who is in the photograph below Dr. Biscet. Guillermo Farinas is on a hunger strike and has been on a hunger strike for weeks now. as we speak. for the reason that these 25 political prisoners are near death because of grave illnesses. And they are still being held and have received sentences at the order obviously of the tyrant Fidel Castro of up to 26 years of length per sentence simply for calling for freedom. supporting freedom. and democracy. So after CHRIS SMITH speaks. I will. if it is all right. read the names of these 25 heroes. And then I would like to simply make reference. if I may. toI received a callI wasnt able to answer it before coming to the floorfrom a reporter from the National Journal. Tom Risen. who. according to my staff. is asking my opinion with regard to the initiative now with the subterfuge. under the subterfuge. of an agricultural bill where they tell the American farmer. This is to help you make sales. Legislation has been filed to open up what the Castro brothers consider their number one priority. to grant them their number one priority: The billions of dollars in mass U.S. tourism to their system. to their island. where they would then be able to receive the tourists. make sure that the tourists see the Potemkin village.