[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 303 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 303
Supporting the people of Cuba in their demands for freedom and the
fulfillment of basic needs and condemning the Communist regime in Cuba.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 15, 2021
Mr. Rubio (for himself, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Graham, Mrs.
Blackburn, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Daines, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Scott of
South Carolina, Mr. Tillis, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Cotton, Mr.
Braun, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Hawley, Mr. Moran, Mr. Hoeven,
Mr. Blunt, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Risch, Mr. Inhofe, and Mrs. Hyde-Smith)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Supporting the people of Cuba in their demands for freedom and the
fulfillment of basic needs and condemning the Communist regime in Cuba.
Whereas, on July 11, 2021, thousands of people in Cuba raised their voices
against socialism, tyranny, and oppression;
Whereas the Cuban people, tired of living under a brutal dictatorship,
peacefully protested against the Communist regime throughout Cuba, from
major cities such as Havana, Santiago, and Santa Clara to small towns
and villages;
Whereas protesters have assembled at the headquarters of the Communist Party of
Cuba chanting, ``Cuba isn't yours!'', ``We are not afraid!'',
``Freedom!'', and ``Homeland and Life'';
Whereas these protests are only the latest in the Cuban people's long struggle
for freedom, which has included--
(1) the Christian Liberation Movement, which has advocated for
political change in Cuba since 1987;
(2) the 1994 Maleconazo uprising in Havana, during which thousands of
protesters rose up against the disastrous economic policies of the
Communist regime in Cuba;
(3) the Varela Project, which, in 1998, proposed a law advocating for
democratic political reforms within Cuba;
(4) the Ladies in White movement, founded in 2003 by the wives and
relatives of those imprisoned by the regime; and
(5) the San Isidro Movement, which was formed by artists, journalists,
and academics in 2018 to protest the restrictions imposed by the Communist
regime in Cuba on the Cuban people's right to free expression;
Whereas, since 1959, the Communist regime in Cuba has repressed political and
economic freedoms, including by--
(1) preventing Cubans from owning private property and using property
stolen from Cuban-Americans, many of whom are now United States citizens;
(2) forcing Cubans employed at foreign firms to register with a state
employment agency that confiscates the bulk of their earnings; and
(3) restricting the access of the Cuban people to the internet by using
equipment and systems produced and installed by entities controlled by the
Chinese Communist Party;
Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has not acted to preserve the lives and
well-being of the Cuban people during the COVID-19 pandemic and left
Cubans in dire need of food, medicine, and other basic necessities;
Whereas the Communist Party of Cuba has for years sought to silence those it
considers its political opponents through the use of police harassment,
forced detainment, and torture, including--
(1) dismissing and disparaging Oswaldo Paya, founder of the Christian
Liberation Movement, and obstructing a credible investigation into the
questionable circumstances of his death in a car crash in 2012;
(2) imprisoning 75 dissidents, journalists, and human rights advocates
during the ``Black Spring'' in Cuba in 2003;
(3) imprisoning Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, founder of the Patriotic
Union of Cuba (UNPACU);
(4) arresting journalist Camila Acosta in March 2021 for sharing
information on Facebook;
(5) detaining Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, an independent labor union
leader, multiple times;
(6) imprisoning journalist Roberto Quinones Haces; and
(7) detaining the leaders of the San Isidro Movement, including Luis
Manuel Otero Alcantara, Esteban Lazaro Rodriguez Lopez, Maykel Osorbo, and
many others;
Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has been responsible for numerous
atrocities against those that stood up for the rights of the Cuban
people, including the extrajudicial assassinations of innocent civilians
and activists by firing squad and other brutal methods, such as during
the Tugboat Massacre of 1994 and the shoot-down of the Brothers to the
Rescue aircraft in 1996;
Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba is taking steps to silence protesters and
their message by shutting down internet access throughout Cuba,
including by seizing and assaulting photographer Ramon Espinosa;
Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has already taken steps to violently
suppress protests, including deploying heavily armed troops and tear gas
to disperse protesters;
Whereas hundreds of Cubans have been wounded by that use of violence by the
Communist regime in Cuba, and 67 individuals have been arrested by the
regime;
Whereas Miguel Diaz-Canel has openly called for bloodshed to quell the protests
by calling on ``revolutionary'' citizens to ``battl[e] in the streets'';
Whereas the Communist regime in Cuba has for years resisted the efforts of the
United States and its allies to bring freedom to Cuba, including by--
(1) threatening the mass deportation of people in order to destabilize
local government services in the United States;
(2) harboring terrorists and fugitives from the United States wanted
for committing violent crimes in the United States; and
(3) jamming the radio broadcasts of Radio and TV Marti, which provide
critical information on the outside world to the Cuban people; and
Whereas, since 1959, the United States has stood steadfastly in support of the
freedom of the Cuban people: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) expresses support for the people of Cuba on their
courageous efforts to advance freedom and democracy in Cuba;
(2) calls on Cuban security forces to respect the
fundamental rights of the Cuban people to peacefully protest
while raising their voices and demanding ``Libertad'';
(3) calls on the Communist regime in Cuba to immediately
release all political prisoners and calls for the end of acts
of repression and arbitrary imprisonment of members of the
opposition, artists, and journalists;
(4) calls on the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry
of the Revolutionary Armed Forces to refrain from physical
violence and any other acts of repression against the people of
Cuba;
(5) urges the European Union and Latin American and
Caribbean allies--
(A) to express their solidarity with all the Cuban
people;
(B) to speak out against the repression of the
freedom-loving people of Cuba;
(C) to condemn acts of violence against the Cuban
people by the military and security forces of Cuba; and
(D) to cease cooperation with the murderous and
corrupt Communist regime in Cuba;
(6) urges President Biden to coordinate an international
effort through--
(A) calling a meeting of the United Nations
Security Council;
(B) engaging the European Union and the
Organization of American States (OAS) to condemn the
oppression of the Cuban people by the Communist regime
in Cuba; and
(C) leading the effort to impose multilateral
sanctions on the regime and against those violating the
human rights of the protesters; and
(7) encourages President Biden and the Secretary of State
to publicly condemn the violence, arbitrary arrests,
persecution, threats, and intimidation against the people of
Cuba.
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