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“HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN CUBA” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H5904-H5909 on July 28, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN CUBA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 7, 1997, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Diaz-Balart] is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Dow Jones Average Up Since Republicans Took Control of Congress
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I wish, before I begin speaking about the subject that brings me to the well this evening, to insert into the Record a note made available to us here in Congress today by our dear colleague, the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan].
Mr. Duncan points out, among other things, that the Dow Jones Industrial Average, on Election Day 1994, when the Republicans took the majority in this House and in Congress, both Houses, for the first time in 40 years, was 3,830 points. And since Republicans took control of Congress, the Dow Jones Average has gone up by more than 4,000 points, breaking all records. And that that was due, to a great degree, because of the fact that the majority here, the Republicans, brought the leadership to the Congress to bring Federal spending under control and stop the growth of taxes and regulations and that, finally, the belief took hold in the economy and in the world in this international economy of today that the United States of America would finally balance its budget.
And, so, I think that that is something that was important to bring out. And I thank the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan] for having done so. So I would like to insert the following into the Record, if I could, Mr. Speaker:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 3830.74 on election day, 1994.
Since Republicans took control of Congress, the Dow Jones average has gone up by more than 4,000 points--mainly thanks to Republican success in bringing Federal spending under control and stopping the growth of taxes and regulations.
Mr. Speaker, I come this evening to the floor, to the well, to discuss a matter that for the last 4 months has worried me on a daily basis in increased fashion. It has been typical of the tyrant in Cuba, who has ruled for 38 long and destructive and painful and extraordinarily gruesome years, it has been typical for him to engage in Stalinist crackdowns. But for the last 4 months, he has been clearly engaged in another such Stalinist crackdown the effects of which have come to my attention on a daily basis.
And, so, I have been thinking it appropriate for some time now to come to the well to give an update to my colleagues and to the American people through C-SPAN, the millions of citizens who watch through television, by way of television, an update on the dreadful human rights situation and the details, as I know them, of that Stalinist crackdown engaged in by the tyrant of Havana, only 90 miles away from the United States.
And, so, I would like to read a list, and I acknowledge from the beginning that it is a partial list, of human rights violations in Cuba for the last 4 months. And with that acknowledgment, I would like to begin to get into it and then discuss some other aspects of the reality of Cuba today.
March 29, a Danish tourist, there have been a number of incidents recently with tourists in Cuba where the government has shown, the regime has shown its paranoia and its apprehension about its security situation as it has related to tourists, a Danish tourist, Joachim Loevschall, somehow mistakenly wandered into a restricted military zone and he was shot to death. That was March 29.
Then began the month of April. And Ramon Rodriguez, father of a well-
known activist, Nestor Rodriguez, president of Young People for Democracy, was arrested.
Also, on April 1, Rafael Ibarra Rogue, president of the Democratic Party 30 November, Frank Pais, who is currently serving a sentence of 20 years in the infamous prison known as Kilo 8, according to relatives, was told that he would be denied from having any contact with his family or any religious visits. That was April 1.
April 8, Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, president of Youth for Democracy, a group that has become more well-known recently and has developed already a number of very impressive young leaders, Youth for Democracy, president Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina was arrested and charged with
``crimes against the state.'' He had previously been arrested in June 1996 and sentenced to 12 months in prison and an additional 6 months of internal exile for the crimes of resistance to authorities and disrespect of the revolution. He was sentenced to 18 months in April and is currently being held in the Guantanamo Prison.
Today, July 28, Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina has begun a hunger strike that he has announced will last during the days that something called the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students lasts. That festival has begun also today in Havana. It is a splurge that Castro gives to Communists who come from throughout the world to party in Cuba, young Communists, while the Cuban people are subjected to the apartheid system and the rationing cards that have been imposed upon the people since 1962.
So Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina says that during the duration of this party, called the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students, he, as a youth leader, is going to fast in protest.
Of course, he and Cuban students who want to speak out in favor of democracy are not allowed to participate in that youth movement festival in that party that Castro organizes with funds that the Cuban people are denied for international young Communists and revelers and partyers.
{time} 2215
April 11. Miguel Angel Aldana, member of the Executive Committee of the Concilio Cubano and president of the Martian Civic League, arrived in the United States after being forcefully expelled from Cuba. He was initially handcuffed, dragged out, and arrested while attending a mass in memory of the Brothers to the Rescue pilots who were shot down by the Cuban Air Force on February 24, 1996.
April 22. Israel Feliciano Garcia, representative of the Democratic Solidarity Party in the Province of Villa Clara was arrested in his home. His wife Arelis Reyes Garcia was also detained for pointing out to the police that they did not have a warrant.
April 30. Radames Garcia de la Vega, vice president of Youth for Democracy, is arrested and charged with showing, ``contempt for the commander in chief,'' Mr. Castro. Since last year Mr. Garcia de la Vega had been held in house arrest. On April 30 he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
Rafael Fonseca Ochoa, a member of Young People for Democracy as well, was arrested. May 1.
May 1 also. Ana Maria Agramonte, a member of the Movimiento Accion Nacionalista is arrested for ``contempt of the authorities.''
May 1. Jesus Perez Gomez, Lorenzo Pescoso Leon, and Aguileo Cancio Chong were arrested by State Security and held without charge in Havana. Aguileo Cancio Chong was beaten at the time that he was arrested.
May 14, 2 weeks later. Cuba Moises Castaneda Rangel, opposition activist with the Workers Union Movement and a member of the Seventh Day Adventists and his family were subjected to an act of repudiation at their home in Villa Clara.
It might be worthwhile to talk a minute about what an act of repudiation is. Government-sponsored mobs are sent to the home of an independent journalist or an opposition leader, a dissident, and there they throw stones and insults, and if someone comes in and out of the house, they physically often attack the people, spit upon them. Those are acts of repudiation organized by this system in Havana.
Ana Maria Agramonte, May 15, a member of Movimiento Accion Nacionalista, was sentenced to 18 months in jail for contempt of the authorities and resisting arrest.
May 25. We go back to Cuba Moises Casteneda Rangel who had been subjected, he and his family to the act of repudiation May 14, was arrested, interrogated, and subjected to psychological torture.
May 27 was the beginning of Eduardo Gomez Sanchez' third year at the Kilo 8 prison. Sanchez was sentenced to 20 years, 20 years, for the crime of illegal exit from the country. He suffers from a severe liver condition and according to relatives probably has cancer.
June 10. Leonel Morejon Almagro, the elected leader of Concilio Cubano, delivered a message to one of Castro's offices demanding the right to hold a peaceful public meeting of his group. Morejon Almagro, who was just released from prison where he served 15 months, was beaten by State Security agents shortly after delivering the letter to Castro's offices.
Amelo Rodriguez, June 10 also, a well-known member of the opposition movement, was arrested by State Security and charged with an unspecified, ``act of rebellion.''
June 16. Nilda Malera Pedraza, a 34-year-old professor of music in Guantanamo was fired for ``deviating from official political thought.'' Professor Joaquin Lozano was also fired for being ``politically unreliable.''
June 17. Luvia Bonito Lopez, the daughter of independent news journalist Ana Luisa Lopez Baeza, was detained and interrogated. Again she was detained 3 days later, June 20.
June 22. Teresa Plateros Rodriguez, a member of the Pro-Human Rights Party, was arrested.
June 23. Hector Peraza Linares, co-director of the Havana Press, independent press people, and his wife were arrested, held without charge.
June 24. Dr. Dessy Mendoza Rivero of the dissident Independent Medical Association of Santiago was arrested by State Security after reporting the epidemic of dengue fever that is sweeping Cuba. She was charged with reporting false information. Thousands of people have gotten the dengue virus. It is imperiling the health of people throughout the island of Cuba and nearby countries and this brave doctor who simply let the world know of the fact that there was dengue fever sweeping through the island was arrested for ``reporting false information.''
June 25. Edillo Barrero, a 25-year-old farmer, was detained without charge by State Security, severely beaten, and died in custody.
June 28. Orlando Merchante Ricart of the 13th of July Movement was expelled from his job after doing an interview with the U.S. Information Agency, Radio and Television Marti. The next day he was beaten and stripped of his clothing.
July 1. Luis Alberto Hernandez Suarez of the Democratic Youth Union Movement is arrested.
July 1. Orestes Rodriguez Omuitiner, vice president of Seguidores de Chibas, human rights group, is arrested in Santiago.
July 1. The home of Nancy de Varona, president of the 13th of July Movement, is placed under constant State Security surveillance and her phones were disconnected.
July 1. Juan Antonio Gonzalez Dalmau, member of the Cuban Civic Current, is detained by State Security.
July 2. The home of Ileana Someillan, a member of the opposition, is searched by State Security.
July 3. Julio Grenier, another activist in the dissident movement, is detained, his house searched, and various items confiscated.
July 3 as well. Busy day for Castro this July 3. Carlos Raul Jimenez of the Nationalist Agenda Movement opposition group, detained by State Security.
July 3 Marta Beatriz Roque, member of the Internal Dissidence Working Group, perhaps the most prestigious economist in Cuba today, received a death threat from State Security officers.
July 3. Mercedes Sabourni Lomar of the Nationalist Agenda Movement, detained and questioned twice that day by State Security.
July 3. The home of Vladimiro Roca of the Internal Dissidence Working Group and president of the Social Democratic Party is stoned by a government-organized mob. Acts of repudiation as we talked about earlier. His home was placed under constant surveillance by State Security. That is July 3, this busy day for the tyrant. Got a lot of pleasure this day, did he not?
July 3. The wife of Vladimiro Roca, because of her husband's activities, is delivered a summons to appear before State Security for questioning. She is threatened with exile.
July 3. Luis Alberto Hernandez Suarez of the Democratic Youth Union Movement is arrested by State Security in Pinar del Rio.
July 3. Jose Orlando Rodriguez Bridon of the Democratic Workers Confederation detained by State Security after leaving the home of Marta Beatriz Roque.
July 3. Odilia Valdes Collazo, President of the Pro Human Rights Party and member of the Internal Dissidence Working Group, detained by State Security.
July 3. Orestes Rodriguez Brea, Vice President of the 13th of July Movement, detained by State Security, placed under house arrest.
July 3. Dr. Frank Hernandez Loveira, Dr. Elias Vicent and Ana Maria Caballero, members of the 13th of July Movement, are visited and threatened by State Security.
July 3. Manual Fernandez Rocha, President of the Historical Studies Forum and lawyer for the Agramonte Current opposition group, detained by State Security.
July 3. Mercedes Sabourni Lomar, Secretary of the Nationalist Agenda Movement opposition group, receives two summons to appear before State Security.
Fourth of July. Jorge Gonzalez Puentes of the 13th of July Movement, detained by State Security, his old typewriter confiscated, and ordered to stay in his home until August.
July 4. Juan Ruiz Armenteros, Vice President of the Assistance Committee of the Internal Dissidence Working Group, Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique of the Cuban Independent Economists Institute, and Georgina de las Mercedes Gonzalez Corbo of the Cuban Civic Current all threated by State Security at their homes, told not to leave.
July 4. Felix Bonne Carcasses of the Internal Dissidence Working Group is followed and threatened by State Security.
July 4. Juan Antonio Gonzalez Dalmau of the Cuban Civic Current opposition group, detained for questioning by State Security.
July 5. John Mendez Diaz and Osvaldo Caballero, a former political prisoner, both of the 13th of July Movement, detained by State Security.
July 5. Rafael Garcia Suarez of the Democratic Workers Confederation, arrested by State Security.
July 5. Raul Pimentel, President of an independent environmental group and opposition activist, arrested by State Security.
July 6. Raul Rojas, member of the Democratic Youth Movement, detained by State Security after leaving the home of Marta Beatriz Roque, the economist. He is currently staging a hunger strike in prison.
July 6. Manuel Sanchez, member of the Internal Dissidence Working Group, threatened by State Security.
July 6. Nancy Gutierrez Perez, member of the Democratic Pacifist Movement, visited twice by State Security and threatened. ``Stop your activities,'' they told her.
July 7. Lazaro Lazo, an independent journalist and director of the Independent Press Bureau of Cuba, is threatened with attack by State Security, unless he immediately abandons his independent press activities.
July 10. Nicolas Rosario Rozabal, a correspondent for the independent Havana Press in Santiago was arrested by State Security.
July 11. Osvaldo Paya Sardinas, President of the Christian Liberation Movement, and fellow opposition activist Rene Montes de Oca are detained. Montes de Oca remains in detention.
July 12. Dr. Augusto Madrigal Izaguirre, director of the Cuban Independent College of Medicine, detained and questioned by State Security. Dr. Madrigal Izaguirre is active with the independent medical movement.
Lorenzo Paez Nunez, July 12, an independent journalist, sentenced to 18 months in prison for ``disrespecting Cuba's national police.''
July 12. Nancy de Varona, President of the July 13 Movement, is arrested. In addition, all of the executive committee members of the group are questioned by State Security that day.
July 13 was coming, the anniversary.
July 12. Juan Carlos Vasquez Garcia, a 26-year-old author from Cienfuegos, arrested by State Security.
July 13, the third anniversary of the sinking of the tug boat where over 70 refugees were trying to flee that hell which is Castro's Cuba and they were sunk pursuant to the orders of the tyrant, and more than 40 refugees died, including more than 20 children. That is July 13, the third anniversary, 3 years ago.
That day this year, Herbiberto Leyva Rodriguez, a member of Young People for Democracy, was detained and he is still being held at the provincial headquarters of the National Police in Palma Soriano in Santiago. He has been charged with, quote, disrespect to a judge, because at the end of the trial of Randames Garcia de la Vega, he exclaimed, ``This is proof that in Cuba there is no freedom or democracy.'' So he is still being held in prison for that.
July 16. Marta Beatriz Roque, the head of the independent economists that I referred to earlier, Feliz Bonne Carcaces, Vladimiro Roca and Rene Gomez Manzano, all leaders of the Internal Dissidence Working Group, were arrested. At that time they were taken to State Security headquarters at Villa Marista.
The four of them, the rest of those four leading opposition leaders is the only incident, Mr. Speaker, all these human rights violations 90 miles away that I have referred to, that our local newspaper here, the Washington Post, has reported. A very large article here in the Washington Post. Page A22, July 18.
Key Dissidents Arrested in Cuba
The Cuban government said today that 4 dissidents are under arrest and are being investigated on suspicion of counterrevolutionary activities. Foreign Ministry spokesman Miguel Alfonso confirmed the arrests, reported by diplomatic and dissident sources, at a weekly briefing. Vladimiro Roca, Martha Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne Carcasses and Rene Gomez Manzano, who lead the Working Group of Internal Dissidence, were arrested by State Security Wednesday, the sources said. It is extremely unusual for authorities to comment on arrests of Cuba's small and illegal dissident groups.
There has been a tyranny 38 years in Cuba. It allows no opposition. It reiterates that it will never hold elections while this tyrant is alive and never intends to unless it is forced to. It is engaged in a Stalinist crackdown that I have begun to describe and we see here the extent of coverage by the national media, the Washington Post, page A22, July 18.
Historians will have to describe why this reality exists that for some reason this tyrant can murder and imprison and use medicines for psychological torture and engage in electroshock therapy of political prisoners, and the reality of that regime is simply not covered by the national or international media. In fact, there have to be bombs placed in the hotels where Ms. Lucia Newman is of CNN in order for her to report that there are incidences of opposition to the regime.
It is so sad, Mr. Speaker. But it is a reality.
{time} 2230
July 16, Luis Lopez Prendes, a journalist with the Independent Press Bureau of Cuba, is arrested by State security. He was among the first to report the bombings that I just referred to in tourist hotels in Havana on July 12.
July 17, Edel Jose Garcia Diaz is a journalist with the independent press agency Centro Norte del Pais, subjected to a government sponsored act of repudiation at his home.
July 17, Porfirio Batista Rodriquez, a member of the Pro Human Rights Party, is detained and interrogated by state security in Santa Clara.
July 17, Marilis Blazques Aparicio, member of the internal opposition and widow of former political prisoner Reynaldo Jimenez Herrera, is detained, interrogated and warned to abandon her counterrevolutionary activities.
July 17, David Flores Diaz, a member of the Democratic Solidarity Party in Villa Clara, is detained and interrogated by state security.
July 17, Cuba Moises Castaneda Rangel, member of the opposition Workers Union Movement and an active Seventh Day Adventist, is arrested and held in handcuffs in an underground blackout cell 48 hours and charged with ``dangerousness.''
July 19, State Security agents visit Ledonel Morejon Almagro and his wife Zohiris Aguilar Callejas at their home, where they are interrogated and threatened from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. regarding their peaceful opposition activities within Concilio Cubano and Alianza Nacional Cubana. State Security warned Morejon Almagro that if he proceeds with this activism he will be sentenced to 25 years in prison, not 15 months like he was sentenced in 1996, but 25 years.
Similar visits were received by other signers of a document that I have here in my possession asking Castro to permit a plebescite like Pinochet, the dictator of Chile, permitted a few years ago. For that they were visited and said you will get 25 years if you continue with this, not 15 months like last time.
Also visited that night, July 19, Reinaldo Cozano Leon, Aguileo Cancio Chong, Ibrain Carrillo Fernandez, Neri Gorortiza Campoalegre, Jose Pastor Leon and Cecilia Zamora Cabrera.
July 20, Amnesty International issues a 13-page report titled Medical Concerns, where Amnesty International indicates their concern that political prisoners are not receiving adequate medical care in Cuba, and citing international sources, Amnesty International states that many political prisoners already suffer from malnutrition and excessive weight loss due to poor nutrition, which leads to anemia, diarrhea, parasite infections. Some of the most serious conditions developed include optic neuropathy, tuberculosis, beriberi and leptospirosis. Amnesty International also states that the conditions and solitary confinements of Cuban prisoners are brutally inhumane, lacking beds and mattresses and even natural or artificial lights. Political prisoners are also sent to prisons, according to Amnesty International, hundreds of miles away from their families, which makes family visits and contact practically impossible.
Amnesty International has also issued urgent action appeals for the arrests of the four leaders of the internal dissidents movement and also for Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez and the other leaders of the Young People for Democracy. I would like to at this point, Mr. Speaker, insert into the Record Amnesty International's urgent action appeal.
Amnesty International USA's,
Urgent Action Appeal
July 18, 1997.
Further information on EXTRA 106/96 issued 11 July 1996 and re-issued 24 September 1996 and 3 June 1997 Legal concern/Ill-treatment and new concerns: harassment/prisoner of conscience/possible POC.
CUBA: Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, Radames Garcia de la Vega, Ramon Rodriguez, Rafael Fonseca Ochoa, new name: Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez.
Amnesty International is concerned at further developments relating to members of an unofficial youth group called Jovenes por la Democracia, Young People for Democracy, which has been campaigning for, amongst other things, changes in the Cuban university system. Radames Garcia de la Vega, who was detained on 30 April 1997, was reportedly tried on 17 June 1997 and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, charged with
``desacato a la figura del Comandante en Jefe'', ``disrespect to the Commander in Chief'', i.e. President Fidel Castro.
Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez, also a member of the group, Young People for Democracy, was reportedly detained on 13 July 1997 and is being held at the provincial headquarters of the National Police in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba province. He has been charged with ``desacato a un juez'',
``disrespect to a judge'', reportedly because, at the end of the trial of Radames Garcia de la Vega, he exclaimed ``Esto es una prueba de que en Cuba no existe libertad ni democracia'', ``This is proof that in Cuba there is no freedom or democracy''.
Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, President of the group, remains imprisoned in the Combinado de Guantanamo Prison. He had been sentenced in April 1997 to 18 months' imprisonment, charged with ``resisting authority'' and ``disrespect''.
There is no new information about Nestor Rodriguez' father, Ramon Rodriguez, or Rafael Fonseca Ochoa, also a member of Young People for Democracy, who were both threatened with arrest in April and May 1997 respectively.
Amnesty International is seeking the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners of conscience, Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, Radames Garcia de la Vega and Heriberto Leyva. The organization believes they have been detained solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
Further recommended action: Please send telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/airmail letters: urging that Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, Radames Garcia de la Vega and Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez be immediately and unconditionally released, on the grounds that they are prisoners of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly; urging that Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez be granted immediate access to a lawyer of his choice; urging that no reprisals be taken against relatives and others who try to make these cases public.
Appeals to: (1) Attorney-General: (Salutation) (Sr Fiscal General/Dear Attorney General).
Dr. Juan Escalona Reguera, Fiscal General de la Republica, Fiscalia General de la Republica, San Rafael 3, La Habana, Cuba, [Telegrams: Fiscal General, Havana, Cuba], [Telex: 511456 fisge].
(2) Minister of Foreign Affairs: (Senor Ministro/Dear Minister), Sr Roberto Robaina Gonzalez, Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Calzada No. 360, Vedado, La Habana, Cuba, [Telegrams: Ministro Relaciones Exteriores, Havana, Cuba], [Telex: 511122/511464/512950], [Fax: 011 53 7 333085/011 53 7 335261].
(3) Minister of the Interior: (Senor Ministro/Dear Minister), General Abelardo Colome Ibarra, Ministro de Interior, Ministerio del Interior, Plaza de la Revolucion, La Habana, Cuba, [Telegrams: Ministro Interior, Havana, Cuba].
(4) Department of State Security: (Senor Director/Dear Sir), Sr Director, Departamento de Seguridad del Estado, Versalles, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba [Telegrams: Director, Seguridad del Estado, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba].
COPIES TO: National Union of Jurists: Union Nacional de Juristas, Apartado 4161, La Habana 4, Cuba.
Editor of Granma (daily newspaper), Sr Jacinto Granda de Laserna, Granma, Apdo 6260, La Habana, Cuba.
For Urgent Action participants in the United States: Cuba has no embassy in the U.S. at present. To contact its interest in the U.S., write: Cuban Interests Section Mr. Fernando Remirez de Estenoz, 2630-16th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009.
Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado office between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Mountain Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after August 29, 1997.
July 22, 4:55 p.m. while dictating news to international news services, Lazaro Lazo and Cruz Lima, directors of the Agencia Patria news organizations in Camaguey and Ciego de Avila provinces, were detained and taken to an unknown destination.
July 22, Pascual Escalona Naranjo, National Coordinator of the Movimiento Pro Derechos Humanos Golfo de Guacanayabo, was detained under charges of dangerousness. His wife, Mirta Leyva Lopez, was threatened that she and her husband would lose custody of their 2 children by socially and morally deforming them and planting ideas in them contrary to those of a Communist education.
I think it is important to repeat what I just said. On July 22, when 2 dissidents were rounded up, they were told, the wife of Pascual Escalona Naranjo was told, that her 2 children, aged 10 and 8, would be taken from them because of their advocacy of democracy, their peaceful advocacy of democracy. Their children will be taken, your children will be taken away from you because of socially and morally deforming them. They say implanting ideas in them contrary to those with communist education.
This is unprecedented and unparalleled in history. Often people ask me why is it that Castro has lasted 38 years? There are many factors. But where in the world are peaceful pro democracy activists told that they are going to lose their children if they advocate democracy? Ninety miles away from the United States, in that land that the national media does not report what is going on. That is going on in Cuba, unprecedented and totally unconscionable.
July 24, Ricardo Gonzalez and Juan Antonio Sanchez Rodriguez, journalists for the independent news bureau Cuba Press, were assaulted by Cuban State Security. During the assault State Security agents stole their computer.
Today, July 28, my office received information that Jorge Garcia Perez Antonez and Jesus Chamber Ramirez have been transferred from the infamous Kilo 8 prison to unknown locations where their families cannot visit them, families do not know where they are. No one knows where they are.
Now, Mr. Speaker, a phenomenon that is common among Cuban political prisoners is the highest rate of cancer of prison population in the entire world.
When Leonel Morejon Almagro was first sentenced to the 15-month prison term in 1996 during which, by the way, around 70 of us here in the House, and I thank my colleagues who joined in that marvelous petition, so full of dignity seeking the Nobel Peace Prize for this young lawyer and pro democracy activist in Cuba, Leonel Morejon Almagro. When he was first sentenced to 15 months, last time in 1996, he was placed in the same prison cell where the renown political prisoner, Sebastian Arcos, was previously placed. Arcos, that man who is such an exemplary leader and who now is in exile and very sick in Miami, was denied medical attention for cancer while being confined in that cell for 3 years.
Now, Mr. Speaker, during these days that I have mentioned in this survey with the partial, very limited list of human rights violations that have reached me, the thousands of others, the thousands of other Cuban political prisoners, continued suffering the same savage brutality that they, in fact, continue to suffer to this very moment.
Col. Enrique Labrada continues to receive electroshock torture at the Mazorra Institution for the mentally ill. Labrada was sent there after staging a pro democracy protest on June 21, 1995. Sergio Aguiar Cruz, Francisco Chaviano, Omar del Poso, Jose Miranda, Jesus Chamber Ramirez, and so many others remain in dungeons in the 176 known prisoners, 176 known prisons where pro democracy political prisoners are kept in the enslaved Island of Cuba.
Now I want to thank at this point the American Bar Association for naming 2 of these Cuban human rights activists as winners of the prestigious ABA Litigation Section International Human Rights Award, Rene Gomez Manzano and Leonel Morejon Almagro. Of course Almagro is today in prison, and Manzano, who served his 15 months sentence, has just been told that if he continues in his activities, I am sure he will continue in because he is extraordinarily brave and admirable, he has been threatened for those peaceful activities by the regime, as I have just stated, to 25, that he will be sentenced to 25 years.
I would like to insert at this point in the Record the award given by the ABA to these 2 distinguished Cuban lawyers and human rights activists, Mr. Speaker.
Two Cuban Lawyers Named Winners of Prestigious ABA Litigation Section
International Human Rights Award
Chicago, July 9--Two Cuban lawyers who have represented dissidents in human rights cases, and founded independent organizations seeking to promote the rule of law in Cuba, will receive the annual International Human Rights Award from the American Bar Association Section of Litigation, during the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco next month.
Rene Gomez Manzano and Leonel Morejon Almagro are the 1997 award recipients. ABA Section of Litigation Chair Barry F. McNeil will present the awards during a noon luncheon on Tuesday, Aug. 5, in the California West room of the Westin St. Francis Hotel. Michael Tigar, past chair of the Litigation Section and defense attorney for Oklahoma City bombing suspect Terry Nichols, will deliver the keynote address.
Gomez Manzano and Morejon Almagro are expected to attend the ceremony to accept their awards, provided they are allowed to travel to San Francisco and return to Cuba.
Gomez Manzano is the founder of Corriente Agramontista, an independent professional organization of lawyers in Cuba. Morejon Almagro is one of the founders of the Concilio Cubano, an umbrella organization of lawyers, journalists, accountants, economists and human rights activists.
The theme for the Litigation Section Meeting is, ``Bridge to the Future: Advocacy in a High-Tech World.'' The Section's meeting is held in conjunction with the ABA 1997 Annual Meeting, July 31-Aug. 6.
``Award recipients have pursued the highest ideals of our profession in the face of extraordinary adversity,'' said Christopher Wall, chair of the nomination process. ``These individuals face persecution for advocating rights we too often take for granted in the United States. We hope the award will provide international recognition that will help protect the award recipients from government reprisals.''
The Section of Litigation award annually recognizes lawyers and judges who have made extraordinary contributions in foreign countries to the causes of human rights, the rule of law, and promotion of access to justice.
``These courageous lawyers should be commended for their tireless efforts, and for holding to the belief that all individuals have a right to a fair and unbiased judicial process. We are proud to honor Dr. Gomez Manzano and Dr. Morejon Almagro for their dedication and commitment to promoting justice for Cuban citizens.''
In particular, the award recognizes the following contributions:
Rene Gomez Manzano, a Cuban lawyer, has worked for years defending cases involving human rights violations. He has openly criticized irregularities in court proceedings, and has been arrested and detained many times with no charges brought against him. He has been banned from the Supreme Court and expelled from his lawyers' collective. In 1990, Gomez Manzano helped organize the Corriente Agramontista, a group of lawyers willing to litigate political cases against the state. He has tried to register the organization as an independent law office responsible only to its clients and not the Cuban government. This request has been ignored, and meetings have been disrupted or prevented from taking place. The Corriente Agramontista seeks to reform Cuba's judicial system from within requiring the Cuban government to obey its own laws. Its 1991 manifesto calls for the establishment of a developed rule of law, an independent judiciary, and the democratization and decentralization of the system of state run law offices. In an article that appeared in the July 19, 1995, issue of American Lawyer, Gomez Manzano described the group's philosophy: ``We are not of one political current. We are a movement at the service of the whole country, whether Socialist, Christian Democratic or whatever. We are simply lawyers, professionals.''
Leonel Morejon Almagro, a Cuban lawyer, has faced repeated harassment for defending clients in cases against the government. In 1995 he was instrumental in establishing the Concilio Cubano, an umbrella organization composed of approximately 140 groups, including the Corriente Agramontista. The group's mission is to ``promote a peaceful transition to a democratic constitutional state and the establishment of a legal framework to guarantee the observance of universally accepted human rights.'' The Concilio Cubano has sought legal recognition from the government, which has been denied. The government has engaged in a campaign of harassment against the organization and its members since its inception. This campaign intensified after the Concilio Cubano formally requested authorization from the Cuban government to hold a national meeting in February 1996. Morejon Almagro was arrested, tried without due process, and sentenced to 15 months in prison for ``disrespect.'' During his detention, human rights organizations called for his release, and 57 congressmen signed a letter nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Since his release only a few months ago, the Concilio Cubano has again petitioned the Cuban government requesting that the organization be allowed to meet, and Morejon Almagro has again been assaulted by government agents.
The Litigation Section of the American Bar Association includes approximately 60,000 trial lawyers, judges and others involved in all aspects of litigation and the dispute resolution process. The Litigation Section is dedicated to promoting justice both domestically and internationally and enhancing public understanding of and respect for the legal profession.
Also a brilliant and very impacting and important document named The Homeland, or The Nation, I guess, would be a better translation, the Nation Belongs To All, precisely by the four leaders of the Cuban dissidents task group. This statement is, as I say, of extraordinary importance. I thank Freedom House, commend Freedom House, for its translation and would encourage all my colleagues and those listening, watching through C-SPAN, to read this document.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned briefly before, July 13 was the third anniversary of perhaps the most heinous, coldblooded crime, if it is possible to pinpoint any one crime of the Cuban tyrants in 38 years, the sinking of a boat full of refugees, and I do not think, I surely have never done this, I would like to read the names. There were four of the refugees who were missing, who are missing and are unaccounted for. Their names are not known. But 37 of the lost at sea that day are accounted for, and I would like to read their names and their ages.
These people, as I say, they had gone into a tugboat and were seeking to leave in 1994, July 13, and the order was given to sink them, and of course with power hoses they started trying to--that was how the aggression was first committed before these steel, other modern steel tugboats ran them and finally cracked opened the hull and this old tugboat sank, killing over 40 people.
But at the time that the power hoses began to be used against the refugees the refugees lifted some of the babies up so that they could see with the reflectors that they had children on board. That did not stop them. They continued with the power hoses, and of course then sank them, and more than 40 died. I insert these names into the Record, Mr. Speaker.
Tugboat March 13
passenger's list, july 13, 1994
Juan Mario Gutierrez Garcia, age 11.
Giselle Borges Alvarez, age 4.
Eliesser Suarez, age 11.
Cindy Rodriguez Hernandez, age 2.
Jose Carlos Nicle Anaya, age 3.
Angel Rene Abreu Ruiz, age 3.
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte, age 4.
Yousel Eugenio Perez Tacoronte, age 11.
Gelen Martinez Enrique, age 6 months.
Yasel Perodin, age 11.
Liset Alvarez Guerra, age 24.
Lazaro Borges Briel, age 34.
Guillermo Cruz Martinez, age 46.
Joel Garcia Suarez, age 20.
Ernesto Alfonso Loureiro, age 25.
Amado Gonzalez Raices, age 50.
Fidencio Ramel Prieti Hernandez, age 50.
Rigoberto Peud Gonzalez, age 31.
Jorge Balmaseda Castillo, age 24.
Eduardo Suarez Esquivel, age 39.
Estrella Suarez Esquivel, age 45.
Omar Rodriguez Suarez, age 29.
Miralis Hernandez, age 26.
Rosa Maria Alcalde Puig, age 47.
Marta Carrasco, age 44.
Yaltamira Anaya, age 22.
Julia Caridad Ruiz Blanco, age 35.
Jorge, Arquimides Lebrigido Flores, age 28.
Leonardo Notario Gongora, age 27.
Marta Caridad Tacoronte Vega, age 36.
Mayulis Mendez Tacoronte, age 16.
Odalis Munos Garcia, age 20.
Mydalis Sanabria Cabrera, age 19.
Reynaldo Marrero, age 45.
Yuliana Enriquez Carrazana, age 23.
Pilar Almanza Romero, age 30.
Manuel Sanchez Gallol, age 59.
Mylena Labrada Tacoronte, age 3.
Susana Rojas Martinez, age 8.
Daney Estevez Martinez, age 3.
Yandi Gustavo Martinez Hidalgo, age 9.
Sergio Perodin, age 7.
Maria Victoria Garcia Suarez, age 28.
Mayda Tacoronte Vega, age 28.
Deysi Martinez Fundora, age 27.
Jusanny Tuero Sierra, age 20.
Janet Hernandez Gutierrez, age 19.
Jorge Luis Cuba Suarez, age 23.
Ivan Prieto Suarez, age 26.
Dariel Prieto Suarez, age 22.
Gustavo Guillermo Martinez Gutierrez, age 37.
Juan Gustavo Bargaza del Rino, age 39.
Juan Fidel Gonzalez Salinas, age 35.
Daniel Erik Herrera Diaz, age 21.
Eugenio Fuentes Diaz, age 28.
Arquimides Lebrrigido Gamboa, age 52.
Jorge Alberto Hernandez Avila.
Raul Ernesto Munos Garcia, age 23.
Reynaldo Marrero Carrazana.
Roman Lugo Martinez, age 36.
Sergia Perodin Almanza, age 38.
Frank Gonzalez Vazquez, age 20.
Modesto Almanza Romero, age 28.
Jose Fabian Valdez Coton, age 17.
Julio Cesar Dominguez Alcalde, age 32.
Pedro Francisco Crespo Galego, age 31.
Juan Bernardo Varela Amaro.
Armando Morales Piloto, age 37.
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They remain at the bottom of the sea about 7 miles out of Havana Harbor. The Cuban Government has never permitted anyone to go and seek the remains, to give them proper burial. Despite numerous requests from people within Cuba, as well as in the international community, for the Government to bring someone to justice, it has not, and of course it cannot, because it is the tyrant himself, the evidence dictates beyond all shadow of any doubt, who gave the order. So that is something that is going to have to be dealt with as soon as possible.
I would like to at this point also mention an article that did not come out in the press here, but did come out in the press in Madrid in the ABC newspaper, which is one of the most prestigious and oldest newspapers in Madrid.
A doctor in Cuba in charge of the AIDS center in Santiago, Las Vegas, near Havana, has admitted that over 100 young people in Cuba have been injected with the AIDS virus in an experiment; that 90 percent of them have died; that they were told that, at the time they were injected, that there was a good chance that there would be a vaccine, a cure, developed before anything would happen to them, and that in the interim, they would be in a five-star luxury resort.
This is an admission by Dr. Jorge Perez, the director of the AIDS treatment center at Santiago Las Vegas in Havana. I have heard nothing from the national media in the United States, nothing on CNN, and yet an admission from this Cuban doctor was published in the ABC newspaper, this monstrosity.
The doctor said, ``We sinned from paternalism by presenting the AIDS detention center as a paradise.'' This monstrosity is something that I think the media has an obligation to bring to the international community and that the national media in the United States has an obligation to bring to the American people.
What we have, Mr. Speaker, is a tyrant whose jokes continue to be laughed at and his beard caressed by even some of our colleagues who go and visit there occasionally and laugh at his jokes, while his crimes are not even reported. The American people are not told about what he is doing.
Nevertheless, the instinct, the sense that the American people have about the fact that that tyrant is an enemy of the United States and a hater of his own people, is very strong and something that I think that history will see as a distinguishing characteristic of the American people, that ever wise, deeply wise American people.
Of course, the Cuban people will always be grateful for the sense of solidarity that has always come in that distinctive way from the people of this great Nation, the United States of America. I want to thank Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Davidow for stating, and I read it today, his remarks: ``The hemisphere cannot reach its potential, cannot become whole, cannot be fully democratic, cannot fully confront the realities of economic globalism or meet the challenges of crime, narcotics, human rights abuses, and other transnational issues, when one nation, Cuba, remains undemocratic.''
I thank him for that statement. It rings out as distinctive in this world, which demonstrates consistently such lack of solidarity and such lack of care, such lack of concern, such lack of awareness toward what is happening in the holocaust occurring 90 miles to that unarmed people, the Cuban people.
I think that obviously much more must be said, but, nevertheless, the statements of Secretary Davidow are to be commended and thanked. We will continue speaking, Mr. Speaker, on the reality of the Cuban tyranny, on human rights violations, on the fact that there is a cover-
up going on by the Government, President Clinton, against the drug smuggling activities that the Cuban tyrant has engaged in.
My colleagues, the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Dan Burton, and the gentlewoman from Florida, Ms. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and I wrote a letter to General McCaffrey, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, back in November, with page after page of evidence, and including other unclassified evidence that we have of Castro's participation in the drug trade.
We were very disappointed with his lack of response and also the lack of response of other agencies. There should be no contradiction between what the field people in south Florida tell us, and they have told us on tape of the fact that over 50 percent of the cocaine that comes into the United States in the Caribbean comes through or by Castro's Cuba, and the cover-up that we see time and time again from the top of the DEA and the White House.
That is unacceptable, and we are going to continue to talk about that, and we are going to have another Special Order soon specifically limited to this evidence that is being covered up of Castro's participation in the drug trade.
This is poisoning the youth of America, and for whatever reasons, of appeasement, of not wanting to confront Castro, a fear that he will release refugees, or whatever the fear is caused by, that appeasement is caused by, it is simply inexcusable that there is a cover-up of that dictatorship's participation in the drug trade.
So we will have another of these Special Orders in the next weeks, specifically on the evidence of Castro's participation in the drug trade and, thus, the cover-up that is occurring by the administration of the evidence that it knows, it has, of Castro's participation in the drug trade.
Suffice it to say at this point that there is an indictment ready to be filed by the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida charging the Cuban Government as a racketeering enterprise, and 15 members of the hierarchy of the Cuban dictatorship, charging them with cocaine trafficking into the United States, and that because of a political decision, that indictment was put into a drawer and it has been hidden. It has not been authorized to be issued.
In addition to that, a drug trafficker who was arrested last year not only implicated Castro personally in multiple drug deals but agreed to go in under surveillance and do another deal with Castro, and the administration has shut that up as well.
So we will continue to talk about these subjects. The American people deserve it.
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