World Press Freedom Day

Floor Speech

Mr. MARTINEZ. Madam President, this Sunday, individuals around the world will mark World Press Freedom Day by recognizing the plight of journalists in nations where their rights are not accorded under the law.

Sadly, this includes many living in our own hemisphere.

In Cuba, the repressive regime has gone to great lengths to extinguish freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and independent thought.

Many have had their homes invaded, their families blacklisted, and their lives ruined for merely reporting the facts about the reality of Cuba under the Castro brothers' dictatorship.

Six years ago, in a massive crackdown on independent civil society activists, more than 100 people were detained, with 75 suffering prosecution and then later imprisonment. Of the 75 targeted by the regime for imprisonment, 35 were writers, journalists or independent librarians.

Because in Cuba the repression has been such that people are not allowed to even go to a library and read books that might be banned by the regime, individuals began to have home libraries where people could come and check out a book or read a book that might otherwise not be permitted by the Government. These people were imprisoned along with others who, in a fledgling kind of way, attempted to report conditions in Cuba.

Today, 22 of these courageous individuals remain imprisoned. In the intervening 6 years, they have been joined by others who dared to express independent thought.

Among those arrested during the 2003 ``Black Spring'' crackdown was Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, a doctor who became a journalist with the independent news agency Libertad--or ``freedom''--in Las Tunas Province.

In 2003, Cuban state security searched his home and seized his personal possessions. He was prosecuted and convicted under Cuba's Orwellian penal code for acting ``against the independence or the territorial integrity of the state.''

He was sentenced to 24 years in prison--imagine, 24 years in prison--for a crime of being ``against the independence or the territorial integrity of the state.'' In fact, he was just a free journalist. He was sentenced to 24 years. He is limited to one family visit every 45 days. His health, understandably, has deteriorated and there is genuine concern for his well-being. For advocating on his behalf, the regime accused his wife of espionage and conspired to organize mobs outside their home. These government-inspired mobs threatened to burn the house while the family feared for their lives and were still inside the home. His wife and children were forced to flee the country, all because he dared to speak the truth.

Another independent journalist jailed by the regime is Normando Hernandez Gonzalez from Camaguey Province. Hernandez Gonzalez was arrested by the regime for reporting on the conditions of state-run services in Cuba and for criticizing the government's management of issues such as tourism, agriculture, fishing, and cultural affairs. He too was convicted for acting against ``the independence or the territorial integrity of the state.''

Following his arrest and 25-year sentence, Hernandez Gonzalez was placed in solitary confinement, allowed only 4 hours of sunlight per week, and limited communication with his family. Prison authorities encouraged inmates to harass Hernandez Gonzalez, according, to his wife Yarai Reyes Marin. It is no surprise his health has declined during his imprisonment.

As technology makes incremental advances in Cuba, the regime continues to clamp down on those using it to speak freely. Around the world, bloggers share information as fast as they receive it, but Cuban bloggers are lucky to have their messages penetrate the regime's repressive Internet restrictions.

One blogger who has found a way to report on the struggles of Cuban society is a woman named Yoani Sanchez. Sanchez is able to blog, but she does so at great risk of regime retribution at any moment. By e-mailing her observations on daily life in Cuba to friends outside the country, who then post them on line, she faces potential prosecution and imprisonment. Despite the risks, Sanchez eloquently expresses her support for freedom of expression. In one post she said:

State control over the media remains intact, even though technological developments have helped people find parallel paths to keep themselves informed. Illegal satellite dishes, the controlled Internet, and books and manuals brought in by tourists have shaken the government's monopoly on providing news.

Like many other supposed ``freedoms'' in Cuba, the Cuban constitution actually provides for speech as long as it ``conforms to the aims of socialist society.''

According to the State Department's 2008 report on Cuba's human rights, anyone engaged in:

disseminating ``enemy propaganda''

--is how they label it--

which includes expressing opinions at odds with those of the government, is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Imagine 14 years in prison for disseminating ``enemy propaganda,'' as they determine it.

We here in the United States, with our traditions of freedom of expression and freedom of the press, often take our freedoms for granted. As we near the 3rd of May--a day in honor of free press around the world--I urge my colleagues to consider all those who are suffering for exercising their inalienable right to free speech.

I have a list here I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record. It lists all of those who are presently in prison in Cuba as a result of their desire to express themselves freely in violation of the dictates of the regime.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

Ricardo Severino Gonzalez Alfonso, Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, Hector Fernando Maseda Gutierrez, Pedro Arguelles Moran, Victor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, Mijail Bargaza Lugo, Juan Adolfo Fernandez Sainz, Miguel Galvan Gutierrez, Julia Cesar Galvez Rodriguez, Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, Lester Luis Gonzalez Penton, Ivan Hernandez Carrillo.

Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, Regis Iglesias Ramirez, Jose Ubaldo Izquierdo Hernandez, Jose Miguel Martinez Hernandez, Pablo Pacheco Avila, Fabio Prieto Llorente, Alfredo Manuel Pulido Lopez, Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodriguez, Omar Rodriguez Saludes, Omar Moises Ruiz Hernandez, Raymundo Perdigon Brito, Oscar Sanchez Madan, and Ramon Velazquez Toranso.

Mr. MARTINEZ. Madam President, today I will be introducing a resolution on World Freedom Day, if I may have another second to finish, and as I do, I hope many of my colleagues will join in this resolution. There may be some of us in this body who might differ on the best approach to bring freedom to Cuba. There ought to be no dissent on the issue that we all stand on the side of those who seek to freely express themselves in the midst of a very oppressive regime. So I hope we will have a lot of support for this resolution which I will be presenting later today.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

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