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“FREEDOM FOR JOSE MANUEL CARABALLO BRAVO” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1729 on Sept. 14, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
FREEDOM FOR JOSE MANUEL CARABALLO BRAVO
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HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART
of florida
in the house of representatives
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about Jose Manuel Caraballo Bravo, a political prisoner in totalitarian Cuba.
Mr. Caraballo Bravo is an independent journalist in totalitarian Cuba and has been a chronicler of truth amid the lies and deceit of the tyrant's villainous regime. Because of his belief in truth in print, truth for the people of Cuba and truth to enable the world to better comprehend the daily horrors of totalitarian Cuba, Mr. Caraballo Bravo was a target of the totalitarian regime.
I remind my colleagues that, under Castro's totalitarian regime, any freedom of the press, any effort to display the atrocities of the regime under the spotlight of truth, is met with swift and violent repression. The courageous men and women, such as Mr. Caraballo Bravo, who write the truth are the enemies of Castro's totalitarian dictatorship.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Mr. Caraballo Bravo was arrested just before the heinous crackdown of March 2003. Reporters Without Borders also reports that he was sentenced to three years in the totalitarian gulag for ``forging documents.''
Let me be very clear, Mr. Caraballo Bravo is currently languishing in the depraved conditions of the totalitarian gulag for his truthful articles. The U.S. State Department describes the conditions in the gulag as, ``harsh and life threatening.'' The State Department also reports that police and prison officials beat, neglect, isolate, and deny medical treatment to detainees and prisoners. It is a crime of the highest order that people are imprisoned in these nightmarish conditions simply for reporting the facts.
Mr. Caraballo Bravo is a brilliant example of the heroism of the Cuban people. Despite incessant repression, harassment, incarceration and abuse, he remains committed to the conviction that freedom of the press and democracy are inalienable rights of the Cuban people. Let us never forget and always support those who are struggling to liberate peoples from the grip of tyranny.
Mr. Speaker, it is as inconceivable as it is unacceptable that, while the world stands by in silence and acquiescence, independent journalists who write the truth about totalitarian regimes are systematically tortured. In the 21st Century, it must no longer be acceptable for anyone in the world, anywhere in the world, to be locked in a gulag for writing the truth. My Colleagues, we must demand the immediate and unconditional release of Jose Manuel Caraballo Bravo.
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