Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe).

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to my other colleague, the gentleman from South Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart) of the Committee on Rules, to close on our side.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, this amendment allows the continuation of an oppressive communist dictatorship who, according to the State Department Human Rights Reports has actually increased its persecution and harassment of human rights dissidents. It denies medical treatment and food to political prisoners; it imprisons anyone at any time for expressing political views and beliefs that run contrary to the communist dictatorship. This amendment would give the Cuban dictatorship additional funds to host killers of U.S. police officers, cop killers such as Joanne Chesimard who gunned down in cold blood New Jersey State trooper Werner Foerster, or those who murdered New Mexico State trooper James Harper. It would help keep other fugitives of U.S. justice in the lap of luxury, fugitives who are wanted for murder and kidnapping and armed robbery, among other heinous crimes. This amendment gives funds to a dictatorship that condones the silencing of the opposition in Cuba by a regime which is classified by the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression in the Hemisphere as the worst violator of human rights in all the Western Hemisphere. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would give funds to enable Castro's intelligence service to expand its espionage in and against the United States. After all, they suffered a severe blow in 1998 when one of their spy rings was discovered by the FBI for their penetration of U.S. military bases, an action which threatened U.S. national security. Mr. Chairman, this amendment would help support a regime who has sent special agents to Vietnam to help torture American POWs. The only ones who will benefit from this amendment are the Castro brothers and their band of thugs who use violence and terror to hold on to power. They trample on the human rights and civil liberties of its citizens. This amendment tells the Castro regime that it is okay for the regime to hold hostage the children of constituents in my district such as Jose Cohen, a Cuban refugee who escaped from prison 5 years ago. It tells the Castro regime that the 9-year-old daughter of Milagros Cruz Cano, a blind human rights dissident who escaped from Castro's gulag last November, is the property of the regime and she will not be allowed to be reunited with her mother here in the United States. This amendment would give money to this regime, and the supporters must understand, as the Fraternal Order of Police has stated, that attempts to normalize relations with Fidel Castro and, they say, the American people and the Fraternal Order of Police do not feel that we must compromise our system of justice and the very fabric of our society to foreign dictators like Fidel Castro. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, before I yield to my colleague from California, I yield myself such time as I may consume to remind our colleagues on the other side that perhaps they could read the bill, and they would find out that we are not talking about the embargo, we are not talking about trade sanctions. And, yes, we do have many listening facilities, I would say to my friend from California, in the world that we are not asking anyone for debt forgiveness and rescheduling of our debt. The difference is that in this bill we say Russia wants rescheduling of their debt, and we believe that U.S. taxpayers should have assurances that their monies are being used wisely. I think our national security is a very important consideration, and that is why we are putting these safeguards in any negotiations with the Russians about rescheduling of the debt.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I believe that if the gentleman reads the bill, it is very clear. We are talking about the threat that is posed by the Russian listening post in Cuba. It happens to be stationed in Cuba. It could be stationed anywhere else. It is a threat to the U.S. security, and I am not the only one to say it. My colleague can ask Secretary Cohen whether he believes that the intelligence facility of the Russians, and that is the topic of concern here, is a threat to the U.S. national security or not.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the threat posed by Russia's facility at Lourdes is not new. The Freedom Support Act of 1992 clearly underscored the dangers to U.S. national security, as did ensuing legislation. Secretary of Defense Cohen stated in a May 1998 letter to the Congress, ``I remain concerned about the use of Cuba intelligence activities directed against the United States.'' And he further emphasized his concerns with the signals intelligence facility at Lourdes and what benefits the Cuban government may reap from this facility. This latter statement sums up the dual threat that the Lourdes facility poses related to Russia's specific actions as well as the financial resources it affords the Cuban dictatorship through its yearly payments of $200 million to $300 million to the Castro regime for Lourdes. However, after 8 years of talks, 8 years of providing the Russian Federation with billions of dollars in U.S. aid of one sort or another, 8 years of rescheduling the Russian debt at different intervals, what has happened is that Lourdes remains a serious problem. In fact, evidence suggests that there has been an increase, not a reduction, of the threat posed by the Lourdes facility. Coinciding with a February 7, 1996, order by then Russian President Yeltsin demanding that the Russian intelligence community increase its gathering of U.S. and other Western economic and trade secrets, multiple open sources confirm that the Russian Federation began a multi-billion dollar upgrade and expansion of the Lourdes facility, which included, according to open sources and public statements by former U.S. officials and Russian and Cuban defectors, the addition of satellite dishes, voice recognition facilities, more sophisticated computers for intercepting specific telephone numbers, faxes, and computer data, and the means by which to engage in cyberwarfare against the United States. In fact, the ongoing sophisticated and organized cyberattacks that the Pentagon's military computer systems were subjected to in early 1999 came from a company routing through Russian computer addresses. These attacks have been occurring since 1998 and are believed to be stemming from the Lourdes facility. Other public sources and reports refer to the jamming of U.S. FAA transmissions as an example of how Lourdes is used for cyberwarfare, which directly threatens the lives of all Americans. On November 5, 1998, a Moscow publication reported that the Lourdes espionage facility provide between 60 and 70 percent of all intelligence data about the United States, including highly sensitive military information about our own Armed Forces. Such a penetration of closely guarded American military planning jeopardizes the lives of thousands of our men and women in uniform. The use of Lourdes, however, according to academic studies and news reports quoting officials and unofficial sources, is not limited to secret U.S. military operations. Its targets include the interception of sensitive diplomatic, commercial, and economic traffic as well as private U.S. telecommunications. And these targets coincide with the previously mentioned mandate by Russian President Yeltsin that the focus of Russian intelligence had to be commercial and industrial espionage against the U.S. in particular. According to surveys of the American Society for Industrial Security, commercial espionage bleeds the U.S. economy of at least $24 billion a year. However, nothing is being done to address Russia's active participation in a practice which has such devastating costs for American companies. The economic traffic intercepted by Lourdes includes Federal Reserve deliberations, planned U.S. mergers and acquisitions, competitive bidding processes, data which could be used to bank-roll Russian global operations to the detriment of American equities. The disdain for U.S. security extends into the private realm, as revealed by the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in August 1996, who stated, ``Lourdes is being used to collect personal information about U.S. citizens in the private and government sectors.'' Still, the threat does not end there. Cuban engineers and officials of Cuba's Ministry of the Interior, which is Castro's intelligence service, who have defected to the United States in the last 5 years have stated that information on the U.S. obtained through the Lourdes espionage facility is offered by the Russians as a gift or is sold to regimes in countries such as Iran, Iraq, Libya, and China. There are daily mail runs between the Lourdes facility and a Cuban intelligence office nearby. These are often used to exchange information and provide the Castro regime with valuable U.S. political and commercial data. According to defectors, this data is used by Cuban spies to target specific individuals and American companies in an attempt to undermine U.S. policy. As the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations, has stated, the Russians have made a mockery of the debt rescheduling process; and they have ridiculed and scoffed at the United States for our continued willingness in recent years to look the other way, even when there is overwhelming evidence that Russia uses its alleged limited resources to indeed expand its espionage activities against the U.S. and to provide much-needed funds and information to the enemies of our country. U.S. willingness to reschedule Russian debt while ignoring the threat posed by the Lourdes espionage facility has not only given the Russian Federation the impression that it can undermine U.S. national security with impunity, but it has sent a signal to the Castro regime that a foreign presence in Cuba which threatens the safety of the American people will be tolerated and indeed even encouraged. For this reason, the Cuban dictatorship is affording China's military and intelligence services the opportunity to build their own listening post near Lourdes. It has engaged with Chinese Government technical experts who are assisting the Castro regime with infomatics and communications. This will assist the Cuban Foreign Service in what Castro officials term their worldwide struggle against the U.S. by increasing their Internet capabilities. H.R. 4118, Mr. Speaker, a bill which I introduced in March of this year with several of our colleagues is a critical step in addressing the threats posed by Lourdes and sends an unequivocal message to the Russian Federation that here in the United States we will no longer allow ourselves to be manipulated into debt rescheduling for a country which demonstrates a blatant disregard for U.S. security and the safety of our American people. Russia cannot continue to claim poverty and ask for debt restructuring from the U.S., whether bilaterally through the Paris Club or at the upcoming Economic Summit in Japan, all the while providing $200 million to $300 million a year in rental payments to the Castro regime. The claims by the Russian Federation fall flat in the face of logic. If Russia has hundreds of millions of dollars for upgrades to the Lourdes espionage facility, if Russia has hundreds of millions of dollars to build an additional espionage base for the Castro regime at Bejucal nearby, then it has funds to cover its Ex-Im Bank exposure of over $2.2 billion or its $1.9 billion in outstanding loan guarantees under the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or any of its debt to the U.S. This cannot and must not continue. H.R. 4118 affords us the necessary leverage to correct this situation. It holds the Russian government accountable for its actions. It prohibits the forgiveness and rescheduling of Russian debt to the United States until the Russian Federation discontinues its operations and closes its Lourdes facility. While it does provide for a national security waiver by the President, the waiver applies only to debt forgiveness and requires certification and reporting to us in the Congress. I ask my colleagues to act. The time is now to protect our secrets, our security, and the American people. I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 4118. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank, first of all, the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Goss) of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for his support and, indeed, his enthusiasm for this bill. He is a staunch defender of U.S. national security interests and has been an unwavering ally in our efforts to curtail the threat posed by the Russian espionage facility at Lourdes, Cuba. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the chairman of the Committee on International Relations, for his leadership and assistance in moving this bill through the committee process. As has been explained, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4118, a bill that I introduced in March of this year, documents several things. First, it documents the threat that is the Lourdes facility. Secondly, it documents the need for the legislation, and that is that the Russian Federation continues to have contempt for its financial obligations to the U.S. Thirdly, it provides a solution, that is, the prohibition of debt rescheduling and forgiveness. H.R. 4118 documents the billions of dollars that the Russian Federation has spent and continues to spend in the leasing, the upgrading, and operation of its Lourdes post, providing much-needed financial support to the Castro regime to help keep it afloat. It underscores also the continued relation between the Russian intelligence service and the Castro tyranny by citing reports of a high-ranking Russian military delegation traveling to Cuba in December 1999 to discuss the continuing operation of Lourdes. It refers to open sources which classify the Lourdes facility as the greatest single overseas asset for Russian intelligence, with 1,500 Russian engineers, technicians, military personnel, as well as tracking dishes and satellite systems, all tasked with intercepting computer communications, telephone calls, and faxes, as well as with the capacity to engage in cyberwarfare against the U.S. The bill cites reports confirming the use of Lourdes to steal U.S. commercial and trade secrets as well as to collect personal information on American citizens in the private and government sectors. H.R. 4118 is a focused bill which addresses specific policy issues, and this rule reflects this. It enjoys the support of the majority leader and the majority whip, who are cosponsors of this measure; of the gentleman from New York (Chairman Gilman) of the Committee on International Relations; and of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Goss), the distinguished chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, who, as we have seen, is managing debate on the rule. The bill has Democrat cosponsorship and was passed in the committee on a voice vote with minority support. It was reported out as amended by compromised language offered by the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson), the ranking member of the Committee on International Relations. I thank the Committee on Rules for reporting this rule. I ask my colleagues to vote in favor of the rule so that we can move forward with consideration of H.R. 4118, a bill which seeks to utilize the withholding of debt forgiveness and rescheduling to curb Russian behavior running contrary to our U.S. national security concerns.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, this bill is not about diminishing any power. This bill says national security is important to us in the United States. This bill also says that Russia owes billions of dollars to the United States, that we have a right to protect U.S. taxpayers' money by putting conditions on the forgiveness. We do have listening posts throughout the world and we are not asking anyone else to forgive our debt. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) who understands that this bill deals with national security and the protection of the U.S. taxpayer.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, following the very eloquent words of the minority whip, I am honored to yield 5 minutes to another great patriot, the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) our majority whip.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), who is the esteemed chairman of the Committee on International Relations. (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining?

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time and encourage the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson) to use up his time.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, the rescheduling has started since the breakup of the Soviet Union. The Clinton administration has been rescheduling the debt time and time again with no protection for the U.S. taxpayers.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would like to close on the bill with the remaining time, and I would like to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), as well as the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson), who has always been very cooperative in our Committee on International Relations, and we have enjoyed bipartisan support on a myriad of issues, including this one, in spite of the tone and tenor and rhetoric of the debate on the floor. It is a bipartisan bill. This bill is not about the trade embargo. It is not about economic sanctions. It is about Russian espionage. It is about protecting U.S. national security. It helps prevent the theft of political diplomatic and commercial secrets. It protects the American people. It protects the taxpayers from bearing the burden once and again of Russia's failure to pay its debt, and it upholds congressional priorities regarding fiscal responsibility and exerts congressional oversight over foreign policy priorities. I will continue to work on my good friend, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson) and have the gentleman see the light about what this bill does, and what, in fact, it does not do.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak against the motion. Mr. Speaker, this motion, in effect, kills the bill. If my good friend from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson) was so enamored of this amendment, he should have offered it in the committee stage, and he did not. The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson) crafted the waiver he seeks to amend. It is his very language that is in the bill, now he is amending that. This is not a Cuba study commission bill. The other side wants to hide. They want to ignore. They want to confuse the very real and imminent and growing threat posed by the Lourdes facility, and that is, in fact, what this bill does. It is not about sanctions. It is not about U.S. Cuba policy. It is about Russian espionage, and it is about protection of the U.S. taxpayer. A very similar proposal that my good friend, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson), is proposing today was soundly defeated just a few short weeks ago in the Senate, after it became abundantly clear that such a commission is nothing more than a waste of the taxpayers' money; that it would be a waste of time and effort given that it duplicates the role that we exert in the U.S. Congress through hearings, through briefings, through meetings, legislation on this issue. Ironically, this proposal even infringes upon the existing authority of the President and the executive agencies which on a regular basis make modifications to export controls and other regulations that guide U.S. policy toward any government, especially the Castro regime. However, what is astonishing about this attempt is the apparent willingness of the minority to appease the brutal tyrant who rules Cuba with an iron grip, the willingness of the minority to sacrifice the safety, the privacy, and security of the American people. I know the minority does not want that. Our constituents expect us to defend their interests, to defend their hard-earned dollars, and we should not be using it for the purpose of appeasing a dictator who is a declared enemy of the United States. It is inconceivable to see my colleagues on the other side go to this extreme. We have had many blue ribbon committees and commissions studying the issue of U.S.-Cuba relations and other issues. In fact, right now in Havana is a delegation, and they will be reporting back to the Committee on Ways and Means in a few months about lifting sanctions and other issues. The Council on Foreign Relations headed by Bernie Aaronson had this similar proposal just a few months ago. We have had countless commissions and countless task forces and blue ribbon groups studying this ad nauseam, and I do not think that the taxpayers want to see their funds used and manipulated in this way. Mr. Speaker, I yield the remaining time to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) to speak on this motion.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield the remaining time to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the chairman of the Committee on International Relations.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, he has become a regular fixture at our International Relations and Government Reform hearings and briefings on the illegal drug trade in the hemisphere. Gen. Rosso Jose Serrano is at home in the Halls of the U.S. Congress. I commend him on his selection of my congressional district in South Florida as the place he and his family will now call home. For several years, General Serrano has been an invaluable source of information on the intricacies of the Colombian drug trafficking network. He has been sought out by the Congress DEA, and the Drug Czar to share his insight and experience in these matters. In the 1990's, General Serrano commanded the antinarcotics police of the DANTI. He worked hand in hand with our DEA in fighting the drug lords in Colombia. Together they destroyed the Medellin Cartel and brought its leader, Pablo Escobar to justice in December 1993. This outstanding victory could not have happened without the actions of this self acclaimed ``ordinary man from the farmlands of northeast Colombia.'' After more than 40 years in law enforcement, General Serrano retired from the Colombian National Police. Today, I join my colleagues in welcoming him to the United States and thank him for all that he has done for his country and for ours.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleagues Congressman Michael Bilirakis and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney for calling this special order and for bringing the public's attention to this sad anniversary we commemorate this week. This Thursday, July 20th marks the 26th anniversary of the Turkish invasion and occupation of northern Cyprus. On that sad day 26 years ago, over 50,000 heavily armed troops landed in northern Cyprus. Today 35,000 of those troops remain in Cyprus and are used, along with Turkish police forces, to harass and terrorize the Greek-Cypriots remaining in the occupied area. Those Greek-Cypriots remaining in the Turkish occupied area are referred to as the enclaved. They are called the enclaved because when the Turkish forces invaded the island, over 200,000 Greek-Cypriots were forcibly evicted from their homes their families had lived in for centuries. Under an international agreement signed in 1975 called the Vienna III Agreement, 20,000 Greek-Cypriots and Maronites were to be allowed to stay in the northern area called the Karpasia Peninsula and in certain Maronite villages. That Vienna III Agreement had not been honored because of those 20,000, only 500 remain. This is the result of a systematic campaign of harassment and intimidation and continuing massive violations of their most basic human rights and freedoms, including those guaranteed by Turkey in the 1975 Vienna III Agreement. In a hope to bring an end to the suffering of these brave people, I filed H. Con. Res. 80 last year, which today I am happy to report has 131 cosponsors. H. Con. Res. 80 is a modest resolution simply seeking to bring attention to and thereby end the suffering of the enclaved and urging the President of the United States to undertake efforts to end the restrictions on the freedoms and human rights of the enclaved people of Cyprus. The violations of the enclaved people's human rights and of the agreements signed by Turkey have been documented in UN reports. The daily life for the enclaved is far from the normal life guaranteed by the international agreements. As stated in the 1999 case Cyprus vs. Turkey before the European Court of Human Rights, taken as a whole, the daily life of the Greek Cypriot in northern Cyprus is characterized by a multitude of adverse circumstances. These adverse circumstances include: the absence of normal communication, the unavailability in practice of the Greek Cypriot press, the insufficient number of priests, the difficult choice before which parents and school children are put regarding secondary education, the restrictions and formalities applied to freedom of movement, the impossibility to preserve property rights upon departure or death and the various other restrictions create a feeling among the persons concerned of being compelled to live in a hostile environment in which it is hardly possible to lead a normal private and family life. If these Turkish created difficulties were not enough to get these enclaved people to abandon their traditional family homes, over 80,000 Turkish settlers from the mainland have been moved to the occupied area and are living in the homes the Greek Cypriots had to flee from, in violation of international law. The history of this military occupation is a sad history with many disappointments. Presently, thanks to the efforts of the United Nations and others in the international community, the two sides are in their second round of negotiations. My heart is full of hope that these talks find the breakthrough that all the previous talk did not find. But I believe that our Administration must do all it can to show the Turkish side that the settlement of this conflict is a high priority. Moreover, that the plight of the enclaved will not be tolerated any longer and it must be known that Turkey's attitude toward the plight of the enclaved will affect the United States attitude towards Turkey. The recent improved relations between Greece and Turkey does give us cause for hope but that is no reason to hold back our earnest desire that the Cyprus dispute be finally ended and that the island and its people no longer be divided. I believe that this is a time for pressure on both sides but mostly the Turkish side. I hope our Administration plays its part during these negotiations. As for us here in Congress, I know we will continue to do our part to help the cause of freedom and justice for the enclaved people of Cyprus.

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)