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“STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S2777-S2781 on March 22, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS
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SENATE RESOLUTION 62--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE
HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN CUBA
Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Graham, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Helms, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. Torricelli, Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, Mr. Sessions, Mr. DeWine, and Mr. Santorum) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
S. Res. 62
Whereas, according to the Department of State and international human rights organizations, the Cuban government continues to commit widespread and well-documented human rights violations against the Cuban people and to detain hundreds more as political prisoners;
Whereas the Castro regime systematically violates all of the fundamental civil and political rights of the Cuban people, denying freedoms of speech, press, assembly, movement, religion, and association, the right to change their government, and the right to due process and fair trials;
Whereas, in law and in practice, the Cuban government restricts the freedom of religion of the Cuban people and engages in efforts to control and monitor religious institutions through surveillance, infiltration, evictions, restrictions on access to computer and communication equipment, and harassment of religious professionals and lay persons;
Whereas the totalitarian regime of Fidel Castro actively suppresses all peaceful opposition and dissent by the Cuban people using undercover agents, informers, rapid response brigades, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, surveillance, phone tapping, intimidation, defamation, arbitrary detention, house arrest, arbitrary searches, evictions, travel restrictions, politically motivated dismissals from employment, and forced exile;
Whereas, workers' rights are effectively denied by a system in which foreign investors are forced to contract labor from the Cuban government and to pay the regime in hard currency knowing that the regime will pay less than 5 percent of these wages in local currency to the workers themselves;
Whereas these abuses by the Cuban government violate internationally accepted norms of conduct;
Whereas the Senate is mindful of the admonishment of President Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico during the last Ibero-American Summit in Havana, Cuba, that ``[t]here can be no sovereign nations without free men and women. Men and women who can freely exercise their essential freedoms: freedom of thought and opinion, freedom of participation, freedom of dissent, freedom of decision.'';
Whereas President Vaclav Havel, an essential figure in the Czech Republic's transition to democracy, has counseled that
``[w]e thus know that by voicing open criticism of undemocratic conditions in Cuba, we encourage all the brave Cubans who endure persecution and years of prison for their loyalty to the ideals of freedom and human dignity'';
Whereas former President Lech Walesa, leader of the Polish solidarity movement, has urged the world to ``mobilize its resources, just as was done in support of Polish Solidarnosc and the Polish workers, to express their support for Cuban workers and to monitor labor rights'' in Cuba;
Whereas efforts to document, expose, and address human rights abuses in Cuba are complicated by the fact that the Cuban government continues to deny international human rights and humanitarian monitors access to the country;
Whereas Pax Christi further reports (September 2000) that these efforts are complicated because ``a conspiracy of silence has fallen over Cuba'' in which diplomats and entrepreneurs refuse even to discuss labor rights and other human rights issues in Cuba, some ``for fear of endangering the relations with the Cuban government'', and businessmen investing in Cuba ``openly declare that the theme of human rights was not of their concern'';
Whereas the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva provides an excellent forum to spotlight human rights and expressing international support for improved human rights performance in Cuba and elsewhere;
Whereas the goal of United States policy in Cuba is to promote a peaceful transition to democracy through an active policy of assisting the peaceful forces of change on the island;
Whereas the United States may provide assistance through appropriate nongovernmental organizations to help individuals and organizations to promote nonviolent democratic change and promote respect for human rights in Cuba; and
Whereas the President is authorized to engage in democracy-building efforts in Cuba, including the provision of (1) publications and other informational materials on transitions to democracy, human rights, and market economies to independent groups in Cuba; (2) humanitarian assistance to victims of political repression and their families; (3) support for democratic and human rights groups in Cuba; and
(4) support for visits and permanent deployment of democratic and international human rights monitors in Cuba: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That (a) the Senate condemns the repressive and totalitarian actions of the Cuban government against the Cuban people.
(b) It is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the President should establish an action-oriented policy of directly assisting the Cuban people and independent organizations to strengthen the forces of change and to improve human rights in Cuba;
(2) such policy should be modeled on the bipartisan United States support for the Polish Solidarity (Solidarnosc) movement under former President Ronald Reagan and involving United States trade unions; and
(3) the President should make all efforts necessary at the meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva in 2001 to obtain the passage by the Commission of a resolution condemning the Cuban government for its human rights abuses, and to secure the appointment of a Special Rapporteur for Cuba.
Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this resolution to the President.
Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, the resolution I am privileged to introduce today condemns the human rights practices in Cuba, urges assistance to non-governmental organizations that are working to achieve greater freedom and respect for human rights in Cuba, and supports a strong United Nations resolution against Cuba at the UN Human Rights Commission session that begins this week in Geneva. The UN Commission's annual meeting is an ideal opportunity to focus the spotlight of world opinion on the appalling human rights conditions in Cuba and to underscore our support for those who continue to champion the cause of freedom for the Cuban people.
The repressive situation in Cuba is not new. Indeed, the United States has been closely watching events in Cuba for more than 40 years and trying to find ways to foster democratic changes; changes that have since swept through the rest of our hemisphere and around the world. My distinguished colleagues in Congress and various administrations over the years have not always agreed on how best to help the Cuban people achieve the fundamental rights we enjoy here in America. But we overwhelmingly agree on what is the root of the problem in Cuba: Fidel Castro.
As we well know, his totalitarian regime has systematically repressed the fundamental rights of the Cuban people and denied them the most basic of freedoms. This oppression has not eased with time but has in fact become worse, as is documented in disturbing detail in the State Department's recently issued Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000.
In early 1998, Pope John Paul II visited Cuba, a remarkable historic event that raised a glimmer of hope that perhaps the Castro regime would relax some of its repressive practices, particularly with regard to religious organizations of all types, including the Catholic Church to which great numbers of Cubans are faithful. In that same year, the UN Human Rights Commission did not renew the mandate of its Special Rapporteur on Cuba, with the understanding that the Cuban government would improve human rights practices if it were not under formal sanction by the United Nations.
But, I am sorry to say that, according to the State Department's report, human rights practices in Cuba have actually become worse. Despite the Pope's visit, Castro's government continues to clamp down on religious groups, requiring them to register, but then not registering them, so that they must meet illegally. It refuses to issue required permits to religious groups to build places of worship, but harasses groups that resort to meeting in private homes. It limits access by churches to the media and printing facilities. It withholds visas to priests and nuns. It conducts surveillance, infiltration and harassment of religious professionals and lay persons. And when the UN Human Rights Commission passed a new resolution expressing concern over this situation in April 1999, the Cuban government responded by organizing a protest march of about 200,000 people in Havana. Such marches are not voluntary; attendance of workers and school children is taken and workers have been threatened with imprisonment for not showing up.
As hard as it is to imagine, the Cuban government's repression of human rights activists is even more severe than that experienced by religious groups. Not a single human rights organization is recognized by the government. Under Cuban law, any unauthorized assembly of more than three persons can be punished by imprisonment and, predictably, no public meeting has ever been approved for a human rights organization. Human rights advocates and independent journalists are routinely arrested, detained and subjected to interrogation, threats, degrading treatment and unsanitary conditions. Even more disturbing is that the Cuban Constitution, rather than being the foundation for the rule of law and freedoms, actually provides the justification for this repression. It contains sweeping provisions that allow the denial of what few civil liberties even exist in Cuba for anyone who actively
``opposes socialism'' or appears ``dangerous.'' As a result, the police arrest people at will or subject them to therapy or re-education. The Constitution is simply a sham, a license to oppress.
The penalties for opposition to these intolerable conditions are severe. Criticism is considered ``enemy propaganda'' and can result in up to 14 years imprisonment. According to the State Department report, this ``enemy propaganda'' includes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international reports on human rights violations, and foreign newspapers and magazines. In late 1999, Amnesty International reported that approximately 200 persons were arrested around the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to prevent them from commemorating that event. Human rights activists described the escalation of arbitrary arrests and detention as the worst in a decade. They estimate there are currently between 300 and 400 political prisoners in Cuba.
This massive oppression sounds archaic, a relic of another time, the stuff of a Cold War world that has been relegated to the history books. But it is not history in Cuba. It is the harsh reality of everyday life. Cuba remains a world of informers, block committees that report on their neighbors and co-workers, infiltrators in groups that the government thinks might be subversive. Cuba is a place where teachers write evaluations of their students' ``ideological character'' and that of their parents, evaluations that follow the children throughout their schooling and determine their future education and careers. Cuba is a nation where the government monitors phone calls, controls and limits Internet access, and restricts the ability to purchase fax machines and photocopiers. Recently, two Czech citizens, one a member of Parliament and the other a student activist, were arrested in Cuba for the
``crime'' of meeting with dissidents and bringing them pencils and a computer.
The resolution my colleagues and I are introducing today condemns these repressive and indefensible policies of the Castro regime. It calls for the United States to implement a policy supporting the non-
governmental organizations in Cuba that are working toward a more open society, respect for human rights and greater political, economic and religious freedom for the Cuban people. Our support should be modeled on the assistance that we gave to the former Communist nations of eastern Europe, such as Poland in the 1980's, where the U.S. funded non-governmental institutions like the Solidarity trade union movement that were working tirelessly for democracy and a free economy. This resolution also calls for active U.S. support for a strong United Nations resolution on Cuba at the current session of the UN High Commission for Human Rights to demonstrate broad international condemnation of Cuba's human rights record. America must stand as a light on this bleak horizon. I urge my colleagues to lend their voices in support of this resolution and for the promotion of basic human rights and dignity for the Cuban people.
I ask unanimous consent that the Introduction to the State Department's report on human rights in Cuba to be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Cuba--Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000
[Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S.
Department of State, February 2001]
Cuba is a totalitarian state controlled by President Fidel Castro, who is Chief of State, Head of Government, First Secretary of the Communist Party, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. President Castro exercises control over all aspects of life through the Communist Party and its affiliated mass organizations, the government bureaucracy, and the state security apparatus. The Communist Party is the only legal political entity, and President Castro personally chooses the membership of the Politburo, the select group that heads the party. There are no contested elections for the 601-member National Assembly of People's Power, ANPP, which meets twice a year for a few days to rubber stamp decisions and policies already decided by the Government. The Party controls all government positions, including judicial offices. The judiciary is completely subordinate to the Government and to the Communist Party.
The Ministry of Interior is the principal organ of state security and totalitarian control. Officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, FAR, which are led by President Castro's brother, Raul, have been assigned to the majority of key positions in the Ministry of Interior in recent years. In addition to the routine law enforcement functions of regulating migration and controlling the Border Guard and the regular police forces, the Interior Ministry's Department of State Security investigates and actively suppresses opposition and dissent. It maintains a pervasive system of vigilance through undercover agents, informers, the rapid response brigades, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, CDR's. The Government traditionally uses the CDR's to mobilize citizens against dissenters, impose ideological conformity, and root out ``counterrevolutionary'' behavior. During the early 1990's, economic problems reduced the Government's ability to reward participation in the CDR's and hence the willingness of citizens to participate in them, thereby lessening the CDR's effectiveness. Other mass organizations also inject government and Communist Party control into citizens' daily activities at home, work, and school. Members of the security forces committed serious human rights abuses.
The Government continued to control all significant means of production and remained the predominant employer, despite permitting some carefully controlled foreign investment in joint ventures with it. Foreign companies are required to contract workers only through Cuban state agencies, which receive hard currency payments for the workers' labor but in turn pay the workers a fraction of this, usually 5 percent in local currency. In 1998 the Government retracted some of the changes that had led to the rise of legal nongovernmental business activity when it further tightened restrictions on the self-employed sector by reducing the number of categories allowed and by imposing relatively high taxes on self-employed persons. In September the Minister of Labor and Social Security publicly stated that more stringent laws should be promulgated to govern self-employment. He suggested that the Ministry of Interior, the National Tax Office, and the Ministry of Finance act in a coordinated fashion in order to reduce ``the illegal activities'' of the many self-employed. According to government officials, the number of self-employed persons as of September was 156,000, a decrease from the 166,000 reported in 1999.
According to official figures, the economy grew 5.6 percent during the year. Despite this, overall economic output remains below the levels prior to the drop of at least 35 percent in gross domestic product that occurred in the early 1990's due to the inefficiencies of the centrally controlled economic system; the loss of billions of dollars of annual Soviet bloc trade and Soviet subsidies; the ongoing deterioration of plants, equipment, and the transportation system; and the continued poor performance of the important sugar sector. The 1999-2000 sugar harvest, just over 4 million tons, was marginally better than the 1998-99 harvest. The 1997-98 harvest was considered the worst in more than 50 years. For the tenth straight year, the Government continued its austerity measures known as the ``special period in peacetime.'' Agricultural markets, legalized in 1994, provide consumers wider access to meat and produce, although at prices beyond the reach of most citizens living on peso-only incomes or pensions. Given these conditions, the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars in remittances from the exile community significantly helps those who receive dollars to survive. Tourism remained a key source of revenue for the Government. The system of so-called tourist apartheid continued, with foreign visitors who pay in hard currency receiving preference over citizens for food, consumer products, and medical services. Most citizens remain barred from tourist hotels, beaches, and resorts.
The Government's human rights record remained poor. It continued to violate systematically the fundamental civil and political rights of its citizens. Citizens do not have the right to change their government peacefully. There were unconfirmed reports of extrajudicial killings by the police, and reports that prisoners died in jail due to lack of medical care. Members of the security forces and prison officials continued to beat and otherwise abuse detainees and prisoners. The Government failed to prosecute or sanction adequately members of the security forces and prison guards who committed abuses. Prison conditions remained harsh. The authorities continued routinely to harass, threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain, imprison, and defame human rights advocates and members of independent professional associations, including journalists, economists, doctors, and lawyers, often with the goal of coercing them into leaving the country. The Government used internal and external exile against such persons, and it offered political prisoners the choice of exile or continued imprisonment. The Government denied political dissidents and human rights advocates due process and subjected them to unfair trials. The Government infringed on citizens' privacy rights. The Government denied citizens the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association. It limited the distribution of foreign publications and news, reserving them for selected party faithful, and maintained strict censorship of news and information to the public. The Government restricts some religious activities but permits others. Before and after the January 1998 visit of Pope John Paul II, the Government permitted some public processions on feast days, and reinstated Christmas as an official holiday; however, it has not responded to the papal appeal that the Church be allowed to play a greater role in society. During the year, the Government allowed two new priests to enter the country, as professors in a seminary, and another two to replace two priests whose visas were not renewed. However, the applications of many priests and religious workers remained pending, and some visas were issued for periods of only 3 to 6 months. The Government kept tight restrictions on freedom of movement, including foreign travel. The Government was sharply and publicly antagonistic to all criticism of its human rights practices and discouraged foreign contacts with human rights activists. Violence against women, especially domestic violence, and child prostitution are problems. Racial discrimination occurs. The Government severely restricted worker rights, including the right to form independent unions. The Government prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, it requires children to do farm work without compensation during their summer vacation.
Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise to join Senator Leiberman and other Members of the Senate as an original sponsor of a bipartisan resolution critical of human rights practices in Cuba. The resolution we are introducing today urges the President to develop initiatives to assist the Cuban people and independent organizations in Cuba in their struggle for change, human rights and democracy. Our resolution cites U.S. support for Solidarity in Poland in the 1980s as a model to emulate. The resolution also urges the United States to take an active role in approving a resolution condemning Cuba at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva that is underway as we speak.
The recent arbitrary arrest of two Czech citizens, a legislator and a student, by Cuban authorities in Cuba reminds us of the extent to which the government will go to squash expressions of freedom and opposition to the regime. The two Czech citizens understand the arbitrary nature of their arrest because they have been victims of suppression in their own personal struggle for freedom and democracy in their own country a few years ago.
As Human Rights Watch noted, Cuba has ``a highly effective machinery of repression,'' Journalists, writers, intellectuals, and anyone else who disagrees or dares to challenge the regime risk harassment, imprisonment or other harsh treatment. Human rights repression in Cuba is one of the most serious impediments to improved relations with the United States.
The goal of our resolution is to encourage a peaceful transition to democracy through transparent initiatives that will support human rights groups in Cuba, make available materials and relevant literature on human rights, and provide humanitarian assistance to nongovernmental organizations on the island.
My criticism of human rights practices in Cuba is consistent with my criticism of our unilateral economic sanctions against Cuba. There is no inherent incompatibility between these two critiques. A pro-
engagement policy can be a pro-human rights policy in much the same way it was in our policy towards central and eastern European countries during the cold war.
I believe that programs, such as those of the National Endowment for Democracy and its core institutes, can help promote democracy and political freedoms in Cuba and are likely to be more successful in promoting change than economic coercion. Contacts and interactions through trade, travel, tourism, student exchanges, and other forms of engagement will, in my view, yield more positive results in changing Cuba and improving Cuban human rights practices than isolation and punitive sanctions. This may not be true in all cases where we have differences with other countries, but I believe it has merit with respect to Cuba.
I hope my colleagues in the Senate will join Senator Lieberman and the other sponsors in supporting this resolution and that some day Cuba will join Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and other states around the world in making the transformation from tyranny to freedom and democracy.
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, as Americans, we sometimes take for granted the fundamental rights for which our forefathers fought and on which this great nation was founded. We must not forget, however, that there are places in the world where people are denied these basic freedoms. Sadly, even with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the spread of freedom and democracy in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, there are countries that still do not have freedom of press, assembly, movement, religion or association; where people do not have the right to peacefully change their government; and where individuals do not have the right to due process.
Cuba is one such country, a nation that, despite our efforts over the past 40 years, remains subject to the dictatorial rule of Fidel Castro. Castro retains power over the Cuban people through force, fear, and deprivation. A 1999 Human Rights Watch Report, Cuba's Repressive Machinery: Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolution, summarized the deplorable situation in that country, stating,
Over the past forty years, Cuba has developed 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, silence dissent with heavy prison terms, threats of prosecution, harassment, or exile. Cuba uses these tools to restrict severely the exercise of fundamental human rights of expression, association, and assembly. The conditions in Cuba's prisons are inhuman, and political prisoners suffer additional degrading treatment and torture. In recent years, Cuba has added new repressive laws and continued prosecuting nonviolent dissidents while shrugging off international appeals for reform and placating visiting dignitaries with occasional releases of political prisoners.
Clearly, it is time to explore a different approach to dealing with Cuba. It is important that, as the era of Fidel Castro's rule comes to a close, we work to establish a long-term relationship with the Cuban people.
During the 1980's President Reagan was a champion for human rights in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, standing up for freedom, democracy, and civil society. He passionately spoke of American values and God-given rights, and more importantly, backed his words with action. In his 1982 ``Evil Empire'' speech before the British House of Commons, President Reagan stated:
While we must be cautious about forcing the pace of change, we must not hesitate to declare our ultimate objectives and to take concrete actions to move toward them. We must be staunch in our conviction that freedom is not the sole prerogative of a lucky few but the inalienable and universal right of all human beings.
Poland is but one example of the success of this firm stance. Pope John Paul II, after he visited Cuba in 1998, said, ``I wish for our brothers and sisters on that beautiful island that the fruits of this pilgrimage will be similar to the fruits of that pilgrimage in Poland.''
Senator Lieberman has introduced a resolution calling upon the United States to offer assistance to Cuban people and independent organizations, modeled after President Reagan's support for the Polish Solidarity Movement. Though our debate on the embargo is sure to continue during this Congress, Senator Lieberman's resolution outlines the basic problem on which we can all agree. Fidel Castro's human rights record is deplorable, and the situation continues to deteriorate. Furthermore, this resolution proposes a solution that supports the strengthening of civil society in Cuba, offering hope to the people there who are struggling to emerge from beneath the shell of communism. It also calls upon the U.S. delegation to this year's meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission to actively support the passage of a resolution condemning Cuba for its human rights violations.
As we continue to enjoy the fruits of liberty, we have an obligation, as Americans, to take a stand against Castro's regime and assist the Cuban people in a peaceful transition to democracy. We have an opportunity, beginning with the passage of this resolution, to reach out to the Cuban people through the wall of repression that Castro has built around his small island, so that they may some day taste the freedom and justice that we have been afforded not by chance, but by the hard work and perseverence of those who believed that life should not be any other way. With our help, the Cuban people can further their progress down the road to democracy.
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, democracy and the rule of law are the norm in the Western Hemisphere, but the Cuban people remain denied the blessings of freedom. And the violations of their rights by Fidel Castro's regime are widespread, well-documented, and impact upon every aspect of their lives.
Policymakers in Washington may wrangle over the details of how United States policy in Cuba should be implemented, but we can all agree that the Cuban people need and deserve our support to bring about change in their country.
It is important to underscore that the Cuban people aren't passively waiting for change. They are taking peaceful action every day trying to advance the cause of freedom and democracy. This often costs them their physical freedom, their jobs, their families--even their homeland.
Despite these endeavors, Castro remains as intransigent and repressive as ever. Since January, he has stepped up efforts to beat down Cubans who dare to hope for liberation by jailing and harassing those who speak out.
Not content to simply control the Cuban people, Castro has also intensified his harassment of foreigners who provide moral or material support to pro-democracy dissidents.
Swedes, Czechs, Lithuanians, Mexicans, and Americans have been detained by Castro's police in recent months for meeting with or giving money, printed material, and other help to Cuban dissidents.
Mr. President, foreign governments have been maligned for ``licking the Yankee boot'' because they support passage of a U.N. Commission on Human Rights resolution condemning the human rights record in Castro's Cuba.
Foreign officials have been not-so-cordially invited to cancel visits to Cuba because they had dared to suggest that there is room for improvement in Cuba's human rights record.
Therefore, Castro is essentially criminalizing contact with the Cuban people and trying bully democratic countries into abandoning their principles--and thereby abandoning the Cuban people.
We won't be bullied--and our allies in Europe and Latin America must not let themselves be bullied either.
It is against this back-drop that I am joining Senator Lieberman and a distinguished, bipartisan group of my colleagues today in introducing a resolution regarding the human rights situation in Cuba, a resolution that is designed to give momentum to efforts to pass a U.N. Human Rights Commission resolution on Cuba when it convenes in Geneva this month.
It is also designed to give momentum to a more pro-active and creative U.S. policy of working with the Cuban dissident community modeled on President Reagan's successful efforts to help Poland's Solidarity Movement work for change during the cold war.
Most importantly, it is a message to remind the Cuban people that the United States stands solidly with them in their peaceful struggle for freedom. I am confident that other Senators will want to join Senator Lieberman in supporting this important resolution.
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