Lincoln Diaz-Balart

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, at the very least, even though we have not been able to prevent what I personally consider an immoral policy with regard to the Chinese Government, because the real matter is that the Chinese Government uses slave labor and the multinational corporations are investing in that market and benefiting from the slave labor of the Chinese people. We have not been able to stop that because it is a billion people and it is too strong for us to have stopped it. But at the very least we can say in this hemisphere, this is a hemisphere of democracy and this is a hemisphere of freedom and the Cuban people are not the only people that should be condemned to live in tyranny in this hemisphere; no, they deserve to be free. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), my colleagues that are here. They are representative of the overwhelming majority of the Congress of the United States in both parties who stand with the right of the Cuban people to be free. We are, in the next few days, going to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the resolution passed by this Congress that said Cuba is and it ought to be free and independent, as we told the Spanish colonialists, who invented the concentration camp under General Wahler. By the way, interestingly enough, Castro's father was sent to Cuba to fight the Cuban insurrection as a Spanish soldier under General Wahler and General Wahler invented the concentration camp, and he put entire segments of the Cuban population in concentration camps to defeat the insurrection. Mr. Speaker, it was the American people, and the American people alone, that stood with the Cuban people, and Cuba was free and independent. The United States withdrew from Cuba after helping the Cuban people defeat Spanish colonialism in 1888 and the United States withdrew in 1902. The relationship between Cuba and the United States has always been friendly, except for this madman who represents the anti-Cuba and who will soon be gone from the face of the Earth and will be in the dust bin of history. I thank the Congress of the United States; I thank the leaders who are here who represent the majority opinion of the Congress and of the American people, and I thank the American people for time after time after time standing with freedom, standing with democracy, two times in this century, saving the world from tyranny. This is a noble people, and what an honor to be able to stand in this Congress of this great Nation of the United States of America.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Rohrabacher, it is worse than that. Not only are we not hearing anything from our administration, from the Commander in Chief whose responsibility under the Constitution is to protect the security of the American people, not only are we not hearing anything, but in a few days we are going to hear something officially coming from the Pentagon, politically ordered, saying in effect that there is no threat coming from Castro's Cuba. And what is really sad is that you and I and most of the men and women in this Congress are extraordinary admirers of our men in uniform and our women in uniform, and they are great professionals. But the reality of the matter is that there are sometimes, sometimes examples of undue influence of political decisions made in the White House that are imposed upon the agencies of the executive branch, including the Pentagon. So I urge, and a number of us have sent in writing our concerns to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State with regard to this upcoming whitewash. This will simply be unacceptable to publicly say that a drug trafficker who maintains that Russian espionage center, and we have not gotten into the nuclear power plants yet, the Soviet- designed nuclear power plants that Castro is doing everything in his power, and he just received a $350 million line of credit from the Russians to complete less than 200 miles from the United States these Soviet-designed nuclear reactors. Defectors that worked in the initial stages of their construction have sworn here under oath in congressional committees and have stated to our intelligence community that, even beyond the inherent dangers of those nuclear plants, all of which, by the way, of that design have been closed in the former Soviet Union and in the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe. Each of those former Communist countries, now liberated, has shut down those, they are called DD-440 Soviet nuclear power plants, because of their inherent dangers. But over and above the inherent dangers, defectors have stated that there were so many mistakes made in the initial stages in their construction that they are literally ticking time bombs. And we are hearing absolutely nothing from our administration with regard to those nuclear plants. I think it is indispensable. I think it is the constitutional duty of the President of the United States to say those plants are not going to become operational, period. Because that madman, that tyrant, if he is able to blackmail the President of the United States with refugees, imagine with Soviet-designed nuclear power plants. We are not only talking about a Chernobyl-type accident possibility, and I have the records in my files that within 72 hours as far north as Washington, D.C. would receive the radiation, the disaster would be without parallel, without precedent in this country. Not only an accident, but an incident manufactured or threatened by the Cuban tyrant with those nuclear power plants. Simply unacceptable. We are not only talking about the Cuban people being wiped out in the case of a Chernobyl, it is less than 200 miles from the United States. We are not talking about Chernobyl in the Ukraine. We are talking about Soviet-designed power plants less than 200 miles from the United States of America. And where is the administration?

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of our time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to a distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. Scarborough).

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner).

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I have received extremely disturbing reports that the Department of Defense plans to officially minimize the threat assessment of Castro's Cuba and that this may be utilized to subsequently remove Castro from the State Department's terrorist list. Despite Cuba's destroyed economic situation, Castro remains a dangerous and unstable dictator with the intention and capability to hurt U.S. interests. Thirty-five years ago, during the Cuban missile crisis, Castro urged a nuclear first strike by the Soviet Union against the United States. Ten years ago, Cuban General Rafael del Pino disclosed that Cuban combat pilots train for air strikes against military targets in South Florida. Five years ago, a Cuban airforce defector in a MiG-29 fighter aircraft, flying undetected until outside Key West, Florida, confirmed that he had trained to attack the Turkey Point nuclear power facility in South Florida. Two years ago, Castro ordered Cuban MiG-29 fighter aircraft to attack and kill unarmed American civilians flying in international air space just miles from the United States. There is a pathologically unstable tyrant in the final years of his dictatorship just 90 miles from our shores. His 4-decade record of brutality, rabid hostility toward the Cuban exile community, anti- Americanism, support for international terrorism, and proximity to the United States, is an ominous combination. When considering the potential threat from Castro, the following must be noted. Despite the end of the Cold War, Castro continues to espouse a hard line, using apocalyptic rhetoric, proclaiming socialism or death, ranting about a final reckoning with the United States, and punishing any Cuban who advocates genuine political or economic reform. Castro maintains one of Latin America's largest militaries with capabilities completely inconsistent with Cuba's economic reality and security needs. Despite Cuba's economic failure, Castro has the capability to finance special projects through his network of criminal enterprises and billions of dollars of hard currency reserves that he maintains in hidden foreign accounts. Castro has a proven capability to penetrate U.S. airspace with military aircraft and to conduct aggressive shoot- down operations in international airspace just outside the U.S. Castro is training elite special forces in Vietnam who are prepared to attack U.S. military targets during a final confrontation, according to Janes Defense Weekly. Castro actively maintains political and scientific exchanges with each of the countries on the Department of State's list of terrorist states. Castro continues to provide logistical support for international terrorism and pro-Castro guerrilla groups, and Cuban- trained international terrorists are still active around the world, most ominously at this time in Colombia. Castro continues to coordinate and facilitate the flow of illegal drugs through Cuba into the United States. He continues to offer Cuba as a haven for drug smugglers, criminals and international terrorists, including more than 90 felony fugitives wanted by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Lourdes electronic espionage facility is used to spy against U.S. military and economic targets, including the intercept, and this has been confirmed, of highly classified 1990 Persian Gulf battle plans. Castro is working with Russia, which recently extended a $350 million line of credit to him for priority installations in Cuba, and anyone else willing to offer assistance to complete the nuclear reactor in Cuba. Castro has access to all the chemical and biological agents necessary to develop germ and chemical weapons. Despite his failed economy, he has constructed a secretive network of sophisticated biotechnology labs, fully capable of developing chemical and biological weapons. These labs are operated by the military and Interior Ministry, are highly secure and off-limits to foreigners and visiting scientists. Under the guise of genetic, biological and pharmaceutical research, Castro is developing a serious germ and chemical warfare capability. He has the ability to deliver biological and chemical weapons with military aircraft, various unconventional techniques and perhaps even missile systems increasingly available in the international black market. Tyrants are most dangerous when they are wounded. Given Cuba's proximity to the U.S. and Castro's proven instability, it would be an unacceptable and potentially tragic mistake to underestimate his capabilities. It is critical that Castro be kept on the State Department's list of terrorist states and that a realistic threat assessment be made, which includes an examination of Cuba's biotechnical capabilities as the Castro dictatorship moves towards its final stages. It is important, Mr. Speaker, that we explain at this time what our embargo against Castro is and what it is not. We must counter the massive disinformation campaign by those who wish to lift the embargo against Castro. The way to do that is with the facts. Our embargo is an embargo against U.S. credits, financing and mass tourism to Castro. It is not an embargo on medicine or humanitarian assistance. These facts are necessary to be espoused and clarified. We will continue speaking on them in the coming days.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, had I been present for the vote on H. Res. 364, urging the President to criticize China's human right, violations at the United Nations, I would have voted ``aye''.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, had I been present for the vote on H. Res. 361, a resolution calling for free and impartial elections in Cambodia, I would have voted ``aye''.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great Cuban who is now, also, a great American and a constituent of mine, Dr. Alberto Fibla, who is a true inspiration to all of us. Dr. Fibla survived over 20 brutal years in jail as a political prisoner under the Castro dictatorship. When Dr. Fibla recently became a United States citizen, one of his first acts was to seek to register with the Army and Navy. Dr. Fibla wanted to volunteer as a physician to serve this country to assist in America's efforts in the Persian Gulf region. Unfortunately, Dr. Fibla was turned away because he exceeded the age requirement. However, I believe that Dr. Fibla's efforts to join the armed forces should be applauded. It is easy to take the personal privileges and great freedoms we enjoy in this great country, the United States of America, for granted. Often it is the patriotism shown by new citizens, such as Dr. Alberto Fibla, that remind us of the importance of our liberty and freedoms. Thank you, Dr. Fibla, for your commitment to the defense of the United States. You are truly a great American.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, March 8 is commemorated as the International Day of Women's Rights. With that motive and also because of what has been going on in Cuba since the Pope's visit in January, an urgent appeal went out from Cuba yesterday, March 9, signed by a very distinguished group of women dissidents and independent journalists. And their urgent petition to the international organizations for human rights and all women, which went out yesterday, I would like to read at this point. It reads as follows: ``The so-called `pardons' that the government of Fidel Castro has instrumented in the last few months as an attempt to obtain the good graces of international heads of State have not been acts of clemency or goodwill. ``It is an outrage that within two years of the next millennium Cuba maintains in its prisons more than 100,000 prisoners and another significant number of detainees at adjacent interrogation facilities. In proportion to population, the penal population on the island is perhaps the largest in Latin America, and even more criminal still is the cruel and brutal treatment that is suffered by political prisoners, especially women. ``Very few women have been released, a significant number of women still remain incarcerated, among them Rosa Maria Pujol Llanes, Rosalina Gonzalez Laffita, who is currently at Villa Marista, a state security facility and still remains detained even though her name appears on the list of prisoners scheduled to be deported from Cuba to Canada, Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, Migdelis Pozo Casanova, Esperanza Micaela Atencio de la Rosa, Daula Carpio Matas, Avianes Jordan Contreras, Mayda Barbara Jordan Contreras, Ana Maria Agramonte, Anaismiel Sanchez, Reina Isabel Rojas Sanchez, and many others. ``Currently on a hunger strike since February 24 and after being released from the hospital at Santa Clara are Lilian Meneses Martinez and Ileana Penalver Duque, both charged with illicit association and sentenced to 18 months in prison due to their participation with the opposition group that recently carried out the 120-day hunger strike in that city. ``In light of so much injustice and ignominy, we join our voices of opposition so that the world may learn of the spitefulness and indignity with which Cuban women political prisoners are treated. ``We call on all free citizens of the world to join in support of these women that suffer.'' It is signed Soiris Aguiar Callejas of the Popular Democratic Alliance, Geronima Rosa Soto of the Association in Favor of Constitutional Democracy, Vicky Ruiz Labrit of the Committee of Peaceful Opposition Members and Coordinator of the National Centers for Studies on the Family, Celia Jorge of the Liberal Current, Maria Antonia Escobedo Yaser of the Democratic Front Oriental, Neri Gorostiza Campoalegre of the Movement Pro-Human Rights, Adis Alcolea of the Organization of Social Christians, Ana Luisa Lopez Baeza of Cuba Press, Isabel del Pino, Humanitarian Association Followers of Christ Jesus, Beatriz Garcia of the Association of the National Front Against Injustice, Dr. Iraida Leon of the Independent Medical Association, Daisy Carcases Batle of the Feminist Forum, Gladys Linares Blanco of the Humanitarian Feminist Front of Cuba, Nancy Sotolongo Leon of the Democratic Action Movement, Marta Parga of the Movement in Favor of Solidarity and Peace, Cecilia Zamora Cabrera of the Independent Feminist Organization of Cuba, Odilia Collazo Valdez of the Pro-Human Rights Party of Cuba. Just another reality check, Mr. Speaker, with regard to the horror of Cuba today and what has been going on despite the hope that much of the world had that things could change pursuant to the Pope's visit. And things will change in Cuba. A seed has no doubt been planted for the future of spirituality. But the reality of today is totalitarianism and continued repression. I think it is important for the international community to know the plight of Cuban human rights violations and of prisoners of conscience, especially women prisoners of conscience that languish at this very moment in Castro's dungeons. Mr. Speaker, March 8th is commemorated each year as international women's rights day. At this moment a great number of dignified Cuban women patriots are in dungeons of the dictatorship for the sole crime of seeking freedom for their country. Silence before their suffering is unacceptable and constitutes a form of complicity with the jailers of Cuban women prisoners of conscience. I will not cease denouncing the existence of political imprisonment in Cuba until it is but a tragic chapter of past history.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I rise to comment on the current situation regarding competition in the long distance telephone service field. Two years after Congress has passed sweeping telecommunications reform, we are still waiting for real long distance competition to begin. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seems to be creating more and more hoops for the regional phone companies to have to jump through, whether it be court proceedings or ``moving target'' standards, in order for them to provide long distance service. If we are ever going to see true competition in the long distance field, the regulators at the FCC need to be sensitive to the realities of enabling local carriers to offer long distance service. Consumers deserve the opportunity to choose from a variety of long distance service options.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purposes of debate only. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 366 is an open rule providing for the consideration of H.R. 2181, the Witness Protection and Interstate Relocation Act of 1997. The purpose of the legislation is to ensure the safety of State witnesses and to promote the notification of the interstate relocation of witnesses by States and localities engaging in that relocation. Resolution 366 provides for one hour of general debate, to be equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary. The rule further provides that the bill will be considered by title, with each title being considered as read. The Chair is authorized by the rule to grant priority in recognition to Members who have preprinted their amendments in the Congressional Record prior to their consideration. In addition, the rule allows for the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole to postpone votes during the consideration of the bill, and to reduce votes to 5 minutes on a postponed question if the vote follows a 15 minute vote. Finally, the rule provides for one motion to recommit, with or without instructions. Mr. Speaker, I believe that this resolution is a fair rule. It is an open rule for the thorough consideration of H.R. 2181, the Witness Protection and Interstate Relocation Act of 1997. H.R. 2181 is a step in the right direction, Mr. Speaker, to address the very real problem of gang-related witness intimidation, which is an increasingly frequent problem as gangs expand their influence and membership beyond State lines. In a recent survey, over half of the prosecutors in large jurisdictions cited intimidation of witnesses as a major problem in criminal proceedings. This bill, among other things, establishes a new Federal offense for traveling interstate with the intent to delay or influence the testimony of a witness in a State criminal proceeding by bribery, force, intimidation or threat. In Florida, our department of law enforcement has identified the presence of over 300 gangs with a membership of over 10,000, including motorcycle gangs, street gangs, prison gangs, militia gangs and racist gangs. However, of the current prison population in our State, less than 2 percent of those behind bars were convicted as part of gang- related crimes. Clearly it is very difficult to actually convict gang members, especially when witnesses are reluctant to testify for fear of retaliation in gang-related cases. Witnesses in State proceedings are sometimes relocated to other States. Currently no Federal law exists which requires the notification of the State or local enforcement officials that a witness, sometimes with a criminal record, has been relocated to this new jurisdiction. This lack of notification has presented its share of serious difficulties. This legislation, H.R. 2181, promotes coordination among jurisdictions when a witness is relocated interstate. It is my understanding that some Members may wish to offer germane amendments to this bill, and, under this open rule, they will have every opportunity to do so. I would like to commend the gentleman from Florida (Mr. McCollum) for his hard work on H.R. 2181, and would urge my colleagues to support both this open rule and the underlying bill. In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, this rule is a completely open rule. It is obviously very fair. I urge its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 366 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Madam Speaker, today, February 24th, is a very important day in the history of Cuba. It is the day that in 1895 the war of independence of the Republic of Cuba began. After almost a century of fighting, the Cuban people began the war of independence of 1895 on February 24th, a war that was ultimately successful. And names that already had become not only part of martyrdom but of history, names like Cespedes and Agramonte and Aguilera, the founding fathers of the Cuban republic that had launched the first war of independence in 1868, a war that lasted 10 years, that caused hundreds of thousands of casualties, those names were added in the war that began in 1895 on this date to many others that also became part of martyrdom and of history, names like Marti and Banderas and some names from the prior war that again that took part in the war of independence that was successful in 1895, names like Gomez and Maceo. So this is a very important date in the history of Cuba, and it is important to remember it. It is also a very important date, Madam Speaker, now in the history of the United States, a date that is already not only part of history but has been bloodied just 2 years ago, on the 24th of February, 1996, when the Brothers to the Rescue airplanes were on a humanitarian mission over the Straits of Florida and were shot down and four innocent civilians were killed. I would like to, if I may, Madam Speaker, read a part of an opinion issued just a few weeks ago, a final judgment by the United States District Court of the Southern District of Florida, specifically written by Federal Judge James Lawrence King, where this incident of just 2 years ago is detailed. Not only is it described in all its brutality but some of the most, I think, extraordinary characteristics of this brutal incident are laid out. Judge King writes in his order of just a few weeks ago, the government of Cuba on February 24, 1996, in outrageous contempt for international law and basic human rights, murdered four human beings in international airspace over the Florida Straits. The victims were Brothers to the Rescue pilots flying two civilian unarmed planes on a routine humanitarian mission searching for rafters in the waters between Cuba and the Florida Keys. As the civilian planes flew over international waters, a Russian- built MiG-29 of the Cuban Air Force, without warning, reason or provocation blasted the defenseless planes out of the sky with sophisticated air-to-air missiles in two separate attacks. The pilots and their aircraft disintegrated in the midair explosions following the impact of the missiles. The destruction was so complete that the four bodies were never recovered. One of the victims, Armando Alejandre, was 45 years old at the time of his death. Although born in Cuba, Alejandre made Miami, Florida, his home at an early age and became a citizen of the United States. Alejandre served an active tour of duty for 8 months in Vietnam, completed his college education at Florida International University and worked as a consultant to the Metro Dade County Transit Authority at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife of 21 years, Marlene Alejandre, and his daughter Marlene, a college student. Carlos Costa was born in the United States in 1966 and resided in Miami. He was only 29 years old when the Cuban government ended his life. Always interested in aviation and hoping to some day oversee the operations of a major airport, Costa earned his Bachelor's Degree at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and worked as a training specialist for the Dade County Aviation Department. He is survived by his parents, Mirta Costa and Osvaldo Costa, and by his sister Mirta Mendez. Mario De la Pena was also born in the United States and was 24 years old at the time of his death. Working toward his goal of being an airline pilot, De la Pena was in his last semester at Embry-Riddle when he was killed. During that semester he had obtained a coveted and highly competitive internship with American Airlines. Embry-Riddle granted De la Pena a bachelor's degree in professional aeronautics posthumously. He is survived by a younger brother, Michael De la Pena, and his parents, Mario and Miriam De la Pena. Pablo Morales was the fourth victim. His survivors are not part of this court case. That is why Pablo, a marvelous young man also, who himself had been rescued by Brothers to the Rescue, is not mentioned in this opinion by the Federal Court. The court then describes the shoot-down. Alejandre, Costa and De la Pena were all members of a Miami-based organization known as Hermanos al Rescate, or Brothers to the Rescue. The organization's principal mission was to search the Florida Straits for rafters, Cuban refugees, who had fled the island nation on precarious inner tubes or makeshift rafts, often perishing at sea. Brothers to the Rescue would locate the rafters and provide them with life-saving assistance by informing the Coast Guard of their location and condition. On the morning of February 24, 1996, Brothers to the Rescue's civilian Cessna 337 aircraft departed from Opa-Locka in South Florida. Costa piloted one plane, accompanied by Pablo Morales; De la Pena piloted the second plane, with Alejandre as his passenger. Before departing, the planes notified both Miami and Havana traffic controllers of their flight plans, which were to take them south of the 24th parallel. The 24th parallel, well north of Cuba's 12-mile territorial sea, is the northernmost boundary of the Havana flight information region. Commercial and civilian aircraft routinely fly in this area, and aviation practice requires that they notify Havana's traffic controllers when crossing south through the 24th parallel. Both Brothers to the Rescue planes complied with this custom by contacting Havana, identifying themselves and stating their position and altitude. While the planes were still north of the 24th parallel which, as the judge stated, is well north of the 12-mile territorial limit, the Cuban Air Force launched two military aircraft, a MiG-29 and a MiG-23, operating under the control of Cuba's military ground station. The MiGs carried guns, close-range missiles, bombs and rockets and were piloted by members of the Cuban Air Force experienced in combat. Excerpts from radio communications between the MiG-29 and Havana military control detailed what transpired next. The MiG-29: Okay, the target is in sight; the target is in sight. It's a small aircraft. Copied, small aircraft in sight. We have it in sight. Target is in sight. Military Control: Go ahead. MiG-29: The target is in sight. Military Control: Aircraft in sight. MiG-29: Come again? It's a small aircraft. It's white. White. Military Control: Color and registration of the aircraft? MiG-29: Listen, the registration also? Military Control: What kind and color? MiG-29: It's white and blue. White and blue, at a low altitude, small aircraft. Give me instructions. Authorize me. If we pass it, it will complicate things. We're going to give it a pass because some vessels are approaching there. I'm going to give it a pass. Talk. Talk. I have it on lock-on. I have it on lock-on. I have it on lock-on. Give us authorization. It's a Cessna 337. Give us authorization, damn it. Military Control: Fire. MiG-29: Give us authorization. We have it. Military Control: Authorized to destroy. MiG-29: I'm going to pass it. Military Control: Authorized to destroy. MiG-29: We already copied. We already copied. Military Control: Authorized to destroy. MiG-29: Understood, already received. Leave us alone for now. Military Control: Don't lose it. MiG-29: First launch. We hit him. Damn, we hit him. We hit him. We retired him. Wait to see where it falls. Come on. Come on in. Come on in. Obscenities. Mark the place where we took it out. We are over it. This one won't mess around anymore. Military Control: Congratulations to the two of you. MiG-29: Mark the spot. We're climbing and returning home. Military Control: Stand by. Stand by there circling above. MiG-29: Over the target? Military Control: Correct. MiG-29: Obscenities. We did tell you, buddy. Military Control: Correct, the target is marked. MiG-29: Go ahead. Military Control: Okay, climb to 3,200, 4,000 meters above the destroyed target and maintain economical speed. MiG-29: Go ahead. Military Control: I need you to stand by. What heading did the launch have? MiG-29: I have another aircraft in sight. We have another aircraft in sight. Military Control: Follow it. Don't lose the other small aircraft. MiG-29: We have another aircraft in sight. It is in the area where the other one fell. It's in the area where it fell. We have the aircraft in sight. Military Control: Stand by. MiG-29: Comrade, it's in the area of the event. Did you copy? Okay, this one's heading 90 degrees now. It's in the area of the event, where the target fell. They are going to have to authorize us. Military Control: Correct, keep following the aircraft. You are going to have to stay above it. MiG-29: We're above it. Military Control: Correct. MiG-29: For what? Is the other authorized? Military Control: Correct. MiG-29: Great. Let's go, Alberto. Understood. Now we're going to destroy it. Military Control: Do you have it in sight? MiG-29: We have it. We have it. We're working. Let us work. The other one is destroyed. The other one is destroyed. Fatherland or death. Obscenities. The other one is destroyed. It's down also. The judge continues: The missiles disintegrated the Brothers to the Rescue planes, killing their occupants instantly and leaving almost no recoverable debris. Only a large oil slick marked the spots where the planes went down. The Cuban Air Force never notified or warned the civilian planes, never attempted other methods of interception, and never gave them the opportunity to land. The MiG's first and only response was the intentional and malicious destruction of the Brothers to the Rescue planes and their 4 innocent occupants. Such behavior violated clearly established international norms requiring the exhaustion of all measures before resort to aggression against any aircraft and banning the use of force against civilian aircraft altogether. The international community, the judge writes, moved quickly to condemn the murders. The United Nations Security Council, the European Union, and the International Civil Aviation Organization were among the many to issue statements deploring the Cuban regime's unjustifiable use of force. The Congress characterized the shootdown as a blatant and barbaric violation of international law, tantamount to cold-blooded murder. Congress concluded, ``The Congress strongly condemns the act of terrorism by the Castro regime in shooting down the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft on February 24, 1996.'' The court in its opinion rightly found both the Cuban Air Force and the Cuban government are liable for the murders of Alejandre, Costa, and De la Pena. The court writes, Cuba's extrajudicial killings of Mario De la Pena, Carlos Costa, and Armando Alejandre, and Pablo Morales, which is not part of this action. Cuba's extrajudicial killings of these innocent civilians violated clearly established principles of international law. More importantly, they were inhumane acts against innocent civilians. The fact that the killings were premeditated and intentional, outside of Cuban territory, wholly disproportionate and executed without warning or process, makes this act unique in its brazen flouting of international norms. There appears to be no precedent, writes Judge King, no precedent for a military aircraft intentionally shooting down unarmed civilian planes. The only conceivable parallel may be the shootdown of KAL Flight 007 by the former Soviet Union in 1983. That incident can be distinguished from this case, however, by two key facts. First, the Soviets were arguably under the impression that the KAL plane was a military aircraft. Second, the plane had strayed into Soviet airspace. Neither of these facts is true in this case. Yet despite the fact that the KAL plane was in Soviet airspace, a commentator studying the incident concluded that the lethal use of force was completely inappropriate. So I think it is important, Madam Speaker, to realize that there is no precedent for the terrorist action committed just 2 years ago today by the Castro regime killing 4 unarmed civilians over international waters. This kind of extrajudicial killing constituted an act of state terrorism, not state-sponsored terrorism but rather state-committed terrorism that must be, and I commend at this point Judge King and the court, the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida for this very erudite and responsible and obviously fair and humane final judgment. I think it is important that despite the great courage required to do so, out of a Cuban political prison there has been sent out, smuggled, if you will, surreptitiously sent, a statement by 8 political prisoners. They managed to get this statement out of the Ariza prison in Cienfuegos, Cuba just a few days ago with regard to this date. These prisoners, risking their lives in sending this statement out, wrote the following: ``The dictatorship has stained another date in the history of Cuba with blood, injustice and profound pain with the shootdown of the aircraft of Brothers to the Rescue in 1996, the second anniversary of which is commemorated on February 24. ``As will so many Cubans, we will never forget the victims of that day who because of the love of justice became doves of peace who offered their lives to try to bring freedom to their humiliated people. ``To those who did not take death seriously when the nation was discussed, because of their example, we are willing to equal their measure of devotion. ``In memory of those who fell in flights of peace, the political prisoners of Las Villas in Ariza, Cienfuegos, manifesting our repudiation of the massacre and our heartfelt condolences to their families, will be fasting and in prayer during the entire day of February 28, 1998. ``Decided for the nation.'' Signed by Vladimiro Roca, Bernardo Arevalo, Augusto Cesar San Martin, Jorge Felix Canosa, Israel Hidalgo-Gato, Benito Pojaco, Jose Ramon Lopez and Pedro Genaro Barreras. This is an example of extreme courage and typical of the kinds of statements and actions that are being taken by the internal opposition within Cuba day in and day out, even in the midst and while they suffer as a consequence grave repression from the dictatorship. Madam Speaker, I try to utilize this position of great honor granted to me at 2-year intervals by the 600,000 residents of the 21st Congressional District of Florida to bring to the attention of my colleagues and the American people facts and realities that the majority of the communications media and the press often ignore. All too often the reality of Cuba, the reality facing the Cuban people fits into that category. To use the analogy of failing to see the forest while talking about trees, for one story by a journalist who sees the forest, we are forced to read 50 stories about trees, stories that are either completely one-sided, out of context or simply seem to be from another forest altogether. One of those few articles, one of those few examples by mass media that show that there are exceptions I read just yesterday in the Washington Times by a journalist named Tom Carter. Mr. Carter writes, in an article entitled Cuba's Forgotten Prisoners of Conscience: ``We knew Nelson Mandela's name long before he was released from the South African jail because reporters made his name known. All over the United States and Europe people prayed in synagogues and churches for the release of Natan Shcharansky and Andrei Sakaharov from Soviet imprisonment or exile.'' Amnesty International lists 600 prisoners of conscience. Those are people who have been sentenced for alleged crimes by Castro's regime which are totally nonviolent, even pursuant to the accusation made by the dictatorship. Because there are hundreds, thousands of others who are charged with so-called common crimes even though they are political prisoners. ``Amnesty International nevertheless lists 600 prisoners of conscience currently rotting in the Cuban Gulag. Pope John Paul II gave the government a list of 200 names pleading for their release. Some were released in a government amnesty earlier this month. Nonetheless, the State Department's 1998 report on human rights lists Cuba as one of the world's most egregious violators of human rights.'' ``Why then with some 3,000 American reporters credentialed to cover the Pope's visit to Cuba was there so little news from those opposed to Castro's Communist paradise?'' ``One theory on the media's silence is that the Cuban regime has cowed the U.S. press in much the same way it has subdued much of its 11 million people, with fear. For years, getting permission to report in Cuba has been coveted like a brass ring, visas awarded only to reporters deemed reliable by the Cuban government and some reporters hoping to make return trips purposely tailor their coverage so as to not offend anyone in government.'' ``On my first visit to Cuba 6 years ago, a well respected reporter who is still reporting from Cuba schooled me on what the authorities would permit and what was out of bounds: It was permitted to interview government-approved dissidents, most notably Elizardo Sanchez, a former Marxist professor who has spent 8 years in jail. The head of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and Reconciliation has suffered enormously and has jackboot prints on his front door to prove it, and reporters have beat a well worn path to his house. Perhaps coincidentally, Mr. Sanchez is by his own count one of the minority of opposition figures who, like the Cuban government, also opposes the U.S. embargo on Cuba.'' ``Other opposition figures I asked about were considered sensitive and way off limits, only to be interviewed on the way to the airport and only if a return visa was unimportant.'' ``Despite the so-called openness of the Cuban government for the Pope's visit, it refused visas to at least 60 reporters from the Miami Herald, the St. Petersburg Times and several European and Latin American newspapers. Many denied entry were old Cuba hands who had written unflattering reports about the deterioration of the revolution in recent years.'' ``So many who received the coveted tickets to Havana were Cuban novices, first-time visitors to the island with no time to peer behind the public mask of the revolution. Others apparently in sync with the, quote, gains of the revolution, end quote, and opposed to the U.S. Cuba policy simply choose to ignore the other side of the story.'' ``While I cannot comment on all of CNN's coverage, I did see Christiane Amanpour's 1-hour special on Cuba and the Pope that was aired on CNN's international channel.'' ``Masquerading as news, it was little more than a song of praise to the revolution and a political commercial against the U.S. embargo. I kept waiting in vain for someone, anyone, to say something that didn't sound like it was straight out of the government newspaper Granma.'' ``It is not as though opposition figures in Cuba are unknown. Two phone calls before I left the United States for Cuba got me 4 pages of names, addresses and phone numbers. Time prevented me from visiting more than one, Dr. Hilda Molina, who said American reporters rarely stop by.'' ``Asked if my visit put her in danger, she was defiant. 'I don't care if you're State security, I'll say the same thing,' she said.'' ``Before that kind of courage, I find it cowardly that some news organizations simply recycle regime propaganda as news.'' Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, that is all too often the reality of news reporting with regard to Cuba. The reality of Cuba is ignored and very often if it is not ignored, it is part of disinformation and even misinformation. I attempt to update, and I will use this opportunity to update my colleagues about recent arrests and acts of repression against dissidents and independent journalists in Cuba. I guess we could call it a plaque of human rights update on the situation there because I think that it is important as Mr. Carter writes, for human rights support groups and international organizations and parliaments throughout the world and especially in this greatest of all democratic parliaments in the world, for those brave human rights activists and freedom fighters to be mentioned, to be supported, to be given solidarity. It is very telling that despite the repression, despite the great obstacles faced by the internal opposition, that internal opposition is an ever growing, brave opposition movement within Cuba that is actively working to achieve a transition to democracy and freedom in that long-suffering island. I have before me just a very incomplete, I recognize, list of obvious and direct human rights violations, and I would like to read out the names of just a few of these incidents that have come to my attention in recent months, and most of them I have actual dates for. On July 23, Pascual Escalona, a well-known human rights activist, was charged with dangerousness and arrested. July 24, Aguilleo Cancio Chong, President of the Cuban National Alliance, was arrested by Cuban State Security and subjected to intense interrogation and threats. On July 24, Pascaul Escalona Naranjo was sentenced to one year's imprisonment on a charge of dangerousness. It is believed that the charge stems from his and his wife's advocacy of freedom of expression for Cuba through the Agencia de Prensa Independiente, the Cuban independent press agency. On July 25, Ramon Morejon Castillo's house was searched from 7 in the morning until 12 noon and he was later arrested. Morejon Castillo is not a member of any opposition group but was arrested 2 years ago under the charge of suspicion of sabotaging Cuban elections. He is still imprisoned in the Villa Marista state security center. On July 28, Raul Rivero, head of the Independent Press Group, Cuba Press, was detained. He was detained again on August 12. On July 29 Luis Lopez Prendes, reporter with the Independent Press Bureau, was arrested after speaking with members of the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists. July 31 Rafael Fonseca, Yordys Garcia, Juan Rodiles, Carlos Herrera, Jackelin Caballero and Dr. Walter Estrada, members of the Cuban Democratic Youth Movement, all from Guantanamo, were warned by State security not to show themselves in public while delegates of the XIV World Youth and Students Festival were visiting Guantanamo. In spite of this, a peaceful rally demanding the release of Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina was held and broken up by State security. Also in July 1997, date unknown Reinaldo Soto from the Cuba Press was sentenced to 5 years in a maximum security prison. He was found guilty of distributing enemy propaganda to foreign states. Also July 1997, date unknown, Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez, vice president of Youth for Democracy, was convicted of contempt for the authority of the Santiago courts, based on his testimony given at the hearing of Garcia de la Vega, another member of Youth for Democracy. July 1997, date unknown, Lorenzo Paez Nunez, a journalist with the Habana Press Agency, was sentenced to 18 months for, ``contempt and defamation of national policy,'' based on allegations that he reported on police abuses. August 2, Juan Carlos Herrera was arrested and kept in isolation for 2 days for attempting to contact foreign delegates at Cuba's youth festival who were in Guantanamo at the time. He was told by Manuel Ceballos, who was in charge of interrogation, that he would be charged with disorderly conduct and enemy propaganda because he had a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights when he was arrested. He was released when the delegates left Guantanamo. August 2, Mauri Chaviano Mesa, executive with the Cuban National Alliance, was arrested in Santa Clara and submitted to interrogations, harassment and threats by State security. August 12, Raul Rivero, President of the Cuba Press was detained by Cuban officials. The agents confiscated materials from his domicile, and after hours of detention he was released. August 14 Raul Rivero, was again detained on charges of possessing enemy propaganda. His house was searched without warrant. August 15, David Norman Dorm, Director of International Affairs for the American Federation of Teachers here in the United States, visiting Cuba, was deported allegedly for contacting the internal opposition on behalf of the Freedom House Cuban Rights organization here in the United States. August 15 Maritza Lugo Fernandez, vice president of the Thirtieth of November Party, was arrested for informing foreigners about human rights abuses in Cuba. She started a hunger strike when informed that she would be tried by a military court. August 19, State security agent known as Pepin and other agents in an act of continuing psychological torture, went to the home of Professor Reinaldo Cosano Allen and told him to gather his belongings because he was being arrested. August 20, Zohiris Aguilar, activist and president of the Popular Democratic Alliance, ADEPO, was detained by Cuban State police without being given cause. Her husband Leonel Morejon Almagro, lawyer and founder of Concilio Cubano, well known human rights umbrella group, was also questioned by police. Police threatened to take away their child to be raised by the State unless they ceased their activities advocating free and fair elections. August 20, Nery Gorotiza Campoalegre, executive of the Cuban National Alliance, was detained by State Security Agent Pepin, interrogated and threatened for 24 hours. August 20, opposition activist Sergio Quiro, secretary for Leonel Morejon Almagro, was arrested. While being interrogated and threatened, State security agents played audio tapes with phone conversations opposition members had had with international human rights support groups. August 21, Roberto Gonzalez Tibanear, who had been deported from Sweden to Cuba early in 1997, was arrested. His defense lawyer was given 48 hours to prepare his case. The charges against him were instigation and contempt. August 21, Vicente Escobar Barreiro, director of the Cuban Unionism Studies Institute and a leader of the Cuban Workers Council, an independent union, was called in for questioning by the Singular Vigilance System. The Singular Vigilance System is one of the many repressive organs of the Cuban dictatorship. August 23, Odilia Collazo, while traveling in a car with her husband, was rammed by a government-owned bus and received severe life- threatening injuries. In addition to being President of the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party, Collazo had just assumed the Presidency of the Dissidents Task Force Support Committee after the task force members, well known dissidents, Vladimiro Roca, Felix Bonne Carcasses, Dr. Rene Gomez Manzano and economist Marta Beatriz Roque, were incarcerated the previous month. Throughout the month of August 1997, Jesus Chamber Ramirez, sentenced to 10 years in prison for enemy propaganda and disrespect against government authority, was regularly denied family visits because he insisted on being treated as a political prisoner rather than as a common prisoner. He was tried and sentenced to an additional 4 years for demanding better conditions with yet another trial still pending. August 1997, date unknown, Luis Mario Pared Estrada, a leader of the Thirtieth November Party, Frank Pais, was convicted of dangerousness and sentenced to one year in prison. September 8, three leaders of the Democratic Federation of Workers in Cuba, Ana Maria Ortega Gimenez, Nacional Coordinator; Gustavo Toirac Gonzalez, Secretary General; and Ramon Gonzalez Fonseca, Secretary of Transportation were arrested. Jose Orlando Gonzalez Brindon, President of the organization was placed under house arrest. September 9, Cuban State police arrested the President of the Democratic Solidarity Party, Hector Palacio Ruiz, for commenting on Castro's lack of mental stability in an interview with a German journalist. We certainly could do an entire special order on Castro's lack of mental stability. September 10, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez, Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, and Francisco Herodes Diaz Echemendia were beaten by over 30 guards in the prison where they were being kept and still are today on charges of enemy propaganda, attempted sabotage and acts against State security. September 10, Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon, a citizen of El Salvador, was arrested and charged with being a material author of seven hotel bombings in Cuba. September 13, Lazaro Fernandez Valdez and Rodolfo Valdez Perez were detained at their homes after attending a mass given by Cardinal Jaime Ortega. They had shouted, Long live Cardinal Ortega. September 15, Cecilio Monteagudo Sanchez, member of the Democratic Solidarity Party, was charged with enemy propaganda and detained. He allegedly distributed a flyer encouraging people to boycott voting in the one-party election run by the regime. September 16, U.S. citizen Walter Van de Veer, who had been arrested in Cuba in August of 1996, was tried as a high risk mercenary, and on that date was sentenced to 15 years in prison. September 23 Alexander Hernandez Lago, reportedly a contributor to Vitral, an officially sanctioned religious magazine, was beaten in his home by police for allegedly failing to pay a utility bill of 41 pesos. Lago then protested by wearing a placard in public stating we are fed up with so much arbitrariness and injustice, Human Rights, Article 19, Respect Them, for which he was arrested. September 24, Cecilio Ruiz Rivero, member of the Association for Struggle Against Injustice, was arrested and charged with disrespect, assault and resistance. September 24, Efrain Rodriguez Santos, member of the Club Pueblos Cautivos de Cuba, Captive Towns of Cuba Club, because there are entire towns in Cuba that are in effect prisons, and that is a subject that we will have to treat in detail at some point. Efrain Rodriguez Santos, member of the Captive Towns of Cuba Club was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on charges of disrespect of Fidel Castro. He allegedly shouted from his home's balcony, Down with Fidel Castro. September 27 Maritza Lugo Fernandez, was convicted of bribery for allegedly attempting to convince a prison guard to give prisoners belonging to the Thirtieth of November Party a tape recorder. October 23, 11 members of the Pro Human Rights Party of Cuba, PPDH, were convicted of associating to commit criminal acts and disobedience after conducting a hunger strike to protest the government's detention of another PPDH member, Daula Carpio Mata. Sentences ranged from 1 year of house arrest, Maria Felicia Machad, to 1\1/2\ years in prison camp for Jose Antonio Alvarado Almeida, Ileana Penalver Duque, Roxana Alina Carpio Mata, Lilian Meneses Martinez, Arelis Fleites Mendez, Marlis Velazquez Aparicio, Ivan Lema Romero, Danilo Santos Mendez, Vicente Garcia Ramos, and Jose Manuel Yera Meneses. October 29 Luis Lopez Prendes, with the Bureau of Independent Journalists, was severely beaten for speaking to Radio Marti by phone. October 29, Daula Carpio Matas of the Pro Human Rights Party, PPDH, was sentenced to 16 months in the prison work camp for her outspoken criticism of an earlier trial. She was initially arrested on charges that she verbally criticized a prison doctor at the trial of a fellow PPDH member. November 11, Orestes Rodriguez Urrutinier, acting President of the Followers of Chibas Movement, Movimiento Seguidores de Chibas, was brought to trial on charges of enemy propaganda and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. November 18, Dr. Desi Mendoza Rivero, this is amazing, President of the Santiago de Cuba Independent Medical Association, was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for, quote, ``using the mass media to spread enemy propaganda,'' end quote. Rivero accused the regime on Radio Marti of covering up the extent of danger, he is a physician speaking, of covering up the extent of danger to the public during an epidemic of dengue fever and of not taking sufficient measures to control the epidemic. November 28, Bernardo Arevalo Padron, director of the Independent Press Agency Linea Sur Press, was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for enemy propaganda. December 17, Ileana Penalver Duque, was sentenced to 18 months correctional work without internment, ordered to report to work despite physical illnesses from which she is still suffering, including memory and vision disturbances and loss of feeling in her legs, ordered to report to work. January 9, Jose Angel Pena, president of the Pro Human Rights Party Chico Oriental, was detained for visiting activist, Silvano Duarto. January 15, Frank Fernandez Lobaina, president of the union, the National Union of Opposition Members, UNO, was arrested for signing The Agreement for Democracy, which is an incredible document that the opposition has come together and not only drafted, but agreed to the opposition in Cuba and outside of Cuba. He spoke on its behalf on January 14 publicly, and he was arrested the next day, January 15. January 1998, date unknown, numerous people were arrested at papal services during the Pope's visit, the 4-day trip, which was a marvelous visit where the Cuban people had a ray of hope for 4 days with the visit of that incredible, not only one of the greatest figures of this century, but of the millenium and leader of the Catholic Church, John Paul, II. Numerous people were arrested at the papal services for speaking to foreign journalists or holding up pro democracy signs or other activities that bothered the dictatorship. I personally witnessed two young women who were filmed by Univision and CBS tele noticias, and none of our networks here in the English language or especially CNN, I did not see any of those networks show that film that they had access to because I saw it on Univision and tele noticias, two young women being dragged away for holding up a sign that said, Down with the dictatorship of the Castro brother. That is during the papal masses. February 17, dictatorship prosecutors requested a 15-year sentence in prison for the vice president of the Association for Struggle Against National Injustice Reynaldo Alfaro Garcia. His crime, speaking out for the release of political prisoners. February 18, the regime announced that Benito Fojaco, Israel Garcia, Jose R. Lopez, Angel Gonzalez and Reynaldo Sardinas will be tried for acts against the security of the State. February 22, Castro's joke of a Foreign Minister fellow named Roberto Robaina, warned that the release of a few dozen prisoners that the regime has recently announced as a gesture to Pope John Paul does not mean that those dissidents can engage in antigovernment activities when they are out of prison. February 1998 Jose Miranda Acosta, considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, was previously sentenced to 15 years in prison even though a Mexican national who was charged along with him served 9 months before being released. Numerous human rights advocacy groups have called for his immediate release because of his extremely delicate health condition. The regime is denying him medical treatment as a form of torture. Jose Miranda Acosta was included in the list of prisoners that the Catholic Church gave to the regime for release, but Castro has refused to release him as he has refused to release countless others. The denial of medical care by the dictatorship to political opponents as a form of torture is widespread. Yesterday, I called for the resignation of Cesar Gaviria, a secretary general of the Organization of American States, for his systematic ignoring of multiple requests made by Sebastian Arcos for condemnation by the Human Rights Commission of the OAS of that practice by the regime, denying of medical care as a form of torture for political prisoners. One of the most well-known dissidents in Cuba, he died last December here in exile after he had received cancer while in prison and being denied medical treatment for years. That, in addition to the highest incidence of cancer in the Cuban prisons, in the entire world, and many reports point out that that is too much of a coincidence, is one of the realities that not only has to be analyzed but definitely is going to be made known in all its magnitude when Cuba is freed and the files are opened with regard to inconceivable techniques of torture, like the ones that are used on a daily basis by the regime. But the reality of the matter is that, despite those techniques of torture and the repression, the internal opposition is working harder than ever. Just before coming to the floor this evening, I received notification, I had been told that numerous internal opposition groups within Cuba were planning to attend a mass this evening around 6 o'clock commemorating the 24th of February, the massacre of the four Brothers to the Rescue, their murder 2 years ago. Well, about 20 of them made it to the church in Havana. Over 20 of them apparently made it to the church. When they left the church after the mass, just about a little over an hour ago, they started walking toward the waterfront. They were met by 80 state security gestapo types, and apparently they have been arrested. What they wanted me to know and to say was that it does not matter if they are arrested, it does not matter how many of them are thrown in the dungeon, they will continue fighting peacefully until freedom and democracy are restored to Cuba. And they wanted me to make a point of the fact that it does not matter how many of them are thrown in the dungeon, the fight will continue, and that every day there are more and more members of the internal opposition and members of the pro- democracy movement in Cuba. The fact that the Cuban people's hands are tied at this point and that they are unarmed does not mean that they will not triumph. It does not mean that they will not continue fighting until freedom is achieved. I mentioned briefly that the world had witnessed those great days of hope in January, the four days of hope with Pope John Paul's visit to Cuba just a few weeks ago. Even before John Paul had completed his visit to Cuba, TV anchormen and analysts and editorial writers were at work interpreting the message, the intention, the agenda behind his words. What exactly did the Pope say in Cuba? I want to point to a marvelous analysis done by the Center for a Free Cuba, run by Mr. Frank Calzon here in Washington, a tremendous human rights activist. In the analysis that the Center for a Free Cuba made public, ``The Pope said his journey was `a pastoral visit,' `an apostolic trip,' though, judging by some media reports, the lifting of the Washington trade sanctions against Havana was the most important issue of the visit. And yet, a word search of the 21,094 words pronounced by Pope John Paul II in 14 speeches and homilies while in Cuba indicates the following: The Pope used the word ``truth'' 74 times; ``freedom'' 53 times; ``family'' 42 times; ``justice,'' 31 times; ``moral values'' 32 times; ``solidarity'' 16 times; ``education'' 11 times; ``civil society'' 9 times; ``do not be afraid'' 5 times. I am sure those words to the Cuban people, ``do not be afraid,'' are having a tremendous impact and will have every day even a greater impact. The Pope mentioned ``Our Lady of Charity,'' Cuba's patroness, 13 times; ``Jesus and God'' 129 times. He used the word ``prisoner'' 3 times, referred to Cuban exiles around the world 4 times; and he mentioned the embargo once, before getting on the plane to leave Cuba. And he did not mention the United States by name at all. I want to commend Frank Calzon and the Center for a Free Cuba, because this analysis shows us the kind of campaign that we are facing by the majority of the media and the means of communication day in and day out, where they have their agenda. And none of those arrests, human rights violations and abuses that I mentioned did I see reported in the mainstream media in the United States or the international media, newspapers, that I had a chance to read. You hear about the couple dozen prisoners that Castro releases as a gesture to the Pope. Most of them had served time as common criminals, not political prisoners, or who had already finished their terms, their sentences, in prison. You read about the couple dozen being released, but you do not read about the hundreds and thousands when they are arrested. I think that Mr. Carter of the Washington Times pointed out to a certain extent why that is the case. With regard to that so-called humanitarian gesture of the regime, of the couple of dozen people who were released from prison in the last few days, it is very important to point out the statement also made at the cost of great risk and demonstrating great courage by one of the leading opposition leaders within Cuba, Oswaldo Paya of the Christian Liberation Movement. Mr. Paya states the release from prison of a few dozen prisoners cannot be seen as a sign of political opening. ``We cannot say this is an opening, when many remain in prison for their beliefs and when some are still waiting to be tried for political reasons.'' Even if you do not want to believe the opposition and the dissidents, read what Castro himself or his pathetic foreign minister says: ``The pardon was not made with the intention of stimulating activities of internal dissent,'' Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina said Sunday. ``He who returns to the street has the space we all have in the street.'' I do not think they have the space he has with his yachts. I have seen a photograph of him in a big capitalist yacht and having access to la dolce vita and, like Forbes Magazine says, Castro having over $1.5 billion in Swiss bank accounts. That is not the space he is referring to when he says, ``He who returns to the street has the space that we all have in the street. Not a space to bend over for those who, from abroad, want to destroy the country.'' No, no, no. I do not think he means everybody is going to have the kind of life he has, with his yachts and the hundreds of millions of dollars that Castro has in Swiss foreign accounts. What they are talking about is that this is not, as has been stated, this is not a political opening. What this is is simply a token gesture, so that the world, that wants to find reasons and pretexts to justify the actions of Castro, will find another pretext for doing so. The reality of Cuba is that there are thousands imprisoned. The reality of Cuba, and I commend to the viewers ``The Politics of Psychiatry in Revolutionary Cuba,'' I recommend it to the viewers, this is put out by Freedom House here in Washington, and it details example after example after example of the use of psychiatry, electroshock torture and psychotropic drugs against political prisoners and dissidents by the Cuban regime. That is the reality of Cuba today, and anyone who wants to find out the reality of Cuba today should read books like this and, really, actually listen to the words of the dictator, listen to what happens when people want to commemorate in a mass the massacre of simply two years ago, just two years ago, against four Brothers to the Rescue who were shot and killed over the straits, over international waters, and the people who wanted to peacefully dedicate a mass in their memory are met by 80 gestapo thugs and thrown in prison. That is the reality of Cuba today. The reality of Cuba today is, and I also recommend this report just released by Dr. Juan Clark, a Ph.D. in South Florida, Miami Dade Community College, ``Religious Oppression in Cuba.'' He goes in detail about what happens day in and day out to believers in Cuba, simply for peacefully trying to exercise the right of free worship. That is the reality of Cuba today. Also though the reality of Cuba today is the fact that the internal opposition is more active than ever; that those words that the Pope said do not fear, do not fear, do not be afraid, are having a great effect, like they did in Poland and like they did everywhere that the Pope has visited, and the Cuban people are living in the tradition that they have demonstrated throughout their history, including the entire 19th century, and if they will put an end to this barbaric regime, despite the fact that it has been in existence 39 years, it will come to an end and it will come to an end soon, because the Cuban people are going to see to it. The reality of Cuba today is more than 70 opposition movements have already signed onto this extraordinary agreement called Agreement for Democracy, and many of the opposition movements in exile as well have signed on. I will not read it all, but I think it is a fundamental document to see where the Cuban people are going, where they wish to go and what they think, and to break through the disinformation and the misinformation and the lack of information that is provided or not provided by the international media. This Agreement for Democracy states as follows. As I say, it has already been signed on to by more than 70 opposition groups, most within Cuba. ``We recognize as the fundamental principle of the new republic that Cuba has wanted independence whose sovereignty resides from the people and functions through the effective exercise of representative multiparty democracy, which is the government of the majority with absolute respect for the minority. All governments must respect the sovereignty of the people. Therefore, at the end of the current tyrannical regime, the provisional or transition government shall be obliged to return sovereignty to the people by way of the following measures.'' Then they list 10 specific measures through which sovereignty after the end of the Castro nightmare will be returned to the Cuban people, obviously in the holding of free and fair elections. Free and fair elections is the essence, and free and fair elections is the essence of what we seek in our policy in the United States for the Cuban people. That is the purpose of our policy. That is why we deny access to the U.S. market to those who profit from the lack of freedom of the Cuban people. That is why we have an embargo against Castro. We have an embargo on credits, on financing, on profits from the apartheid economy that Castro imposes on the people. We have an embargo on massive U.S. tourism to Cuba. We do not have an embargo on medicine. It is important that I repeat that, because there is so much disinformation and so much misinformation on this. We do not have an embargo on the sale of medicine. We do not have an embargo on the shipment of humanitarian aid to Cuba. More humanitarian aid is sent from the American people each year to the Cuban people than from all the other countries in the world combined. $2.4 billion in humanitarian aid has been sent. That is not including the cash remittances that the Cuban people send to their family members on the island each year, not including the cash amounts of hundreds of millions per year, such as $2.4 million in humanitarian aid has been sent from the American people to the Cuban people in the last 5 years alone. That is more again than from all the other countries in the world combined. And what we are saying with our policy is that yes, we will deny credits and we will deny financing and we will deny profits from those who want to invest in the lack of labor rights, in human rights in Cuba, until and unless there is a democratic opening, a transition to democracy in Cuba. The only instrument that exists for the Cuban people to be taken into account when Castro dies, and he cannot last much longer, you have to look at him, they shot him up with cortisone for the Pope's trip. It will be a while, a year, 2 years, and thank God he is not immortal, he is going to die. What instrument do the Cuban people have at that moment so that those in a situation of provisionality will take them into account and will agree to return sovereignty to the Cuban people, to have elections, the only instrument that exists is the U.S. embargo. Those who find themselves in a situation of provisional power are going to want to lift the U.S. embargo, and we are going to say, ``Fine, we want to lift the U.S. embargo. The only thing we ask is that you, those who find themselves in a situation of provisional power when Castro dies, is that you hold elections. That is the only thing we are asking for. Just like in 1898 the only country that stood by the Cuban people and said they deserve to be free was the United States of America. In 1998 we are the people, we are the Nation, who wants the Cuban people to be free, and who say, we will not permit access to the U.S. market until the Cuban people are allowed free and fair elections. The Cuban people will not continue to be the only people in this hemisphere to be denied free elections, to be condemned to live under tyranny. We do not accept that, and the Cuban people do not accept that. They deserve to live in freedom. We will hold out and we will deny our market and we will maintain our embargo until three key conditions are met: Political legalization, all political parties have to be legalized; all political prisoners have to be freed; and there has to be a willingness to hold free and fair elections. They are three very simple conditions, but they are conditions that are not going to waived. We will insist on political legalization, we will insist on freedom for all political prisoners, and we will insist on free elections. That is our commitment. That is the commitment of this Congress. That is why we obtained 80 percent of the votes, both in the Senate and in the House, for our sanctions legislation in 1996, and we are going to maintain that policy until there is a democratic transition. So I end my remarks remembering the four martyrs from Brothers to the Rescue, remembering all the political prisoners, in solidarity with them, remembering as well the martyrs of the 13th of July of 1994, the over 40 men women and children who were murdered by the tyrant just a few years ago while trying to seek freedom, including more than 20 children. In memory of them, on this historic date, I end my remarks and I guarantee that this Congress and the American people will stand with the Cuban people until they are free.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise today, just one day before the Opening Ceremonies at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan to congratulate Jennifer Rodriguez, the first Cuban-American to participate in this most important event. Ms. Rodriguez, who will compete in the women's speedskating tournament, also has the distinction of being the first Hispanic athlete and the first Miamian to participate in a Winter Olympics. As a Hispanic, a Cuban-American and a resident of South Florida, I am immensely proud of Ms. Rodriguez great accomplishment. We are blessed to be the heirs of an extraordinary tradition of athleticism, competition and camaraderie which began over 2,000 years ago in Ancient Greece and lives on in our modern Olympic games. These celebrations bear witness to the best in the human spirit--the Spirit of the Olympiad. As elected officials, we too partake of an arena which itself is marked by conflict. All too often, however, we forget to play fair--the old cliche that it is not just about winning. These games should remind us of the inherent value of sportsmanship. I salute Ms. Rodriguez for her dedication. Her effort serves as testimony that those virtues the Ancient Greeks so valued are alive and well, so much so that they have driven a young woman from the warm, semi-tropical climate of her native South Florida to the ice-cold weather of Milwaukee where she has been training rigorously since 1996 for this upcoming event. Good luck Ms. Rodriguez and best wishes to your family! They, like me, must be very proud.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Yes.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. The gentleman is aware of the fact that in the negotiations that led to this legislation, Mr. Smith made what I consider to have been a very good faith offer with regard to the Haitians. The gentlewoman from Florida [Mrs. Meek] was of the opinion that that was not something that should be finalized in the terms that were offered. But yes, my commitment is there, my distinguished friend, with regard to pushing this issue further.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, with regard to the legislation on immigration that is included in this appropriations bill, I think it is important to point out that it is historic. It is in the great generous and compassionate tradition of the United States. The process behind the Central American relief legislation began in July of this year, in June and July of this year, after a commitment by President Clinton to the Central American Presidents during a summit in Costa Rica, and also a commitment by the Speaker of the House, Speaker Gingrich, after a visit to south Florida, precisely commenting on this issue. The legislation was drafted after serious consultation with the National Security Council and the Department of Justice. It was drafted to prevent the deportation of Nicaraguans and also of Guatemalans and Salvadorans, known as the ABC class, that were denied suspension of deportation by the retroactivity of the Immigration Reform Act that was passed last year. I want to point out, I would like to point out, Mr. Speaker, that passage of this language, which is included in the District of Columbia appropriations bill, will not in any way hinder efforts to seek similar relief for Haitian refugees in other legislative measures. Last week, Senator Moseley-Braun in the Senate put a hold on the Senate D.C. appropriations bill because of the Haitian issue. She lifted her objection after the Attorney General and the White House agreed to provide administrative relief to the Haitian community while Congress considers a legislative remedy. The agreement reached between the Senator and the administration provides that the President will authorize the Attorney General to temporarily suspend the deportation of Haitians while Congress considers legislation to provide relief to the Haitian community in the United States. The bill has already been introduced in the Senate by Senator Bob Graham and Senator Connie Mack and others, including Senator Abraham, and a House companion bill has been dropped, to my understanding, by the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Conyers]. I have agreed to be a cosponsor of that bill, as I have always been a cosponsor of legislation by the gentlewoman from Florida [Mrs. Meek] on this issue of our Haitian brothers and sisters. Mr. Speaker, I will request and insist upon hearings not only in the Senate on this legislation but in the House as well and on the basis of this White House agreement of Senator Moseley-Braun where she lifted her hold and the Senate passed the D.C. appropriations bill by voice vote. Mr. Speaker, I support, as I always have, the efforts to seek justice for our Haitian brothers and sisters. My distinguished friend, the gentlewoman from Florida [Mrs. Meek], knows that. I will continue doing so. So as I recommit to do all I can to help our Haitian friends, I seek justice and commend the Speaker and all of those who have been involved, Mr. Smith, as well as the leaders in the Senate, Senator Abraham and Senator Mack and Senator Bob Graham and others, who have worked on this.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hall], pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 323 is a standard rule for a conference report. It waives points of order against the conference report to accompany H.R. 2159, the foreign operations, commonly known as foreign aid, appropriations bill for fiscal year 1998 and against its consideration. In addition, the rule provides that the conference report shall be considered as read. Mr. Speaker, many of our colleagues may remember this bill from July when it was considered on the House floor. We made every effort to allow for the consideration by the entire House of almost every amendment submitted to the Committee on Rules. I believe that we have a balanced product in this conference report, and I will defer to the gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Callahan], the chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs, to answer questions about the details of the conference report we have before us and the compromises that have been reached to complete the conference report. Some matters have been dropped from this legislation, Mr. Speaker, that I believe strongly should not have been dropped, but this is a must-pass bill that I believe we need to pass tonight, and I think it is a good piece of legislation on this critical area that we bring before the House. I thank the gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Callahan], the chairman, and the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Pelosi], the ranking member, for their hard work on this important bill. I urge adoption of the rule and the conference report. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I support this rule, and I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up H.R. 323 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 571, I was inadvertently recorded as an ``aye.'' It was my intention to vote ``no'' on that measure. I ask that the Record reflect my intentions.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, these nine bills that I strongly support bringing to the floor through this rule make a necessary statement, Mr. Speaker, a statement that I think, unfortunately, has not been made by the President of the United States. I certainly have not heard the President of the United States make it. And that is very clear, very simple, we want China to be free. Yes, we recognize that China cannot be ignored, but we want freedom for the Chinese people. The reality of the matter, Mr. Speaker, is the international community generally is today engaged in a policy of massive capital and technology transfers to China in the context of what I would refer to as the ugly face capitalism, the utilization of a system that permits extraordinary profits for major investors because of the lack, the total lack, of labor rights existing in that country. Now, with that ugly face of capitalism and the increase of the gross domestic product that is occurring in China may come, and it always does with GDP, comes military power. I am convinced that unless the Chinese people are able to throw off the yoke of their oppressors, our children, Mr. Speaker, and their children will have to face very dangerous consequences, perhaps horrible consequences, the massive capital and technology transfer that China is benefiting from today. So I believe that it is important that we make the statement and that we take the substantive steps that we will be taking with these bills. It is, obviously, very difficult for the people of China to free themselves when international capitalism is pouring billions of dollars into the coffers of the communist oppressors, billions that they use to maintain their oppressive apparatus. We can and I believe we must, and I believe the Congress is in fact saying with these bills, we do not accept the status quo, we want freedom for China.