[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1351 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1351
Commending the courage, bravery, and resolve of the fathers, mothers,
sons, and daughters of Cuba, who, three years ago, stood in the face of
brutal harassment, beatings, and torture to protest against the
Communist Cuban regime, demanding access to their fundamental rights to
life, dignity, and freedom.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 10, 2024
Mr. Diaz-Balart (for himself, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Gimenez, Ms. Salazar, Mr.
Mooney, Mr. Waltz, Ms. Malliotakis, Mrs. Cammack, and Mrs. Gonzalez-
Colon) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Commending the courage, bravery, and resolve of the fathers, mothers,
sons, and daughters of Cuba, who, three years ago, stood in the face of
brutal harassment, beatings, and torture to protest against the
Communist Cuban regime, demanding access to their fundamental rights to
life, dignity, and freedom.
Whereas July 11, 2024, marks three years since the historic, pro-democracy
demonstration in Cuba when thousands of courageous Cubans took to the
streets in more than 40 cities, across all provinces, to demand access
to their freedoms and civil liberties and call for an end to communism,
censorship, and the oppression imposed by the totalitarian Cuban regime;
Whereas, in an attempt to silence the Cuban people and prevent future protests
from taking place, the Cuban dictatorship responded with a wave of
terror, repression, and criminalization and detained and persecuted more
than 1,400 protestors, including women and children;
Whereas, in a crude and savage effort to silence the Cuban people, the Communist
regime cut internet connectivity and mobile services throughout Cuba,
which hindered the Cuban people from organizing and hid from the outside
world images and videos of the oppressive and brutal crackdown by the
regime;
Whereas totalitarian regimes such as Communist China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela,
and Nicaragua surveil and repress their citizens in a similar manner to
the Cuban regime, with China, according to reports, even establishing an
electronic eavesdropping facility in Cuba to spy on Americans and
citizens of China abroad;
Whereas the ongoing imprisonment of Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, a Cuban human
rights and democracy activist who has worked tirelessly to advocate for
fundamental civil liberties for the Cuban people, has suffered from the
tactics of the brutal, despotic regime in Cuba, which aims to silence
anyone who would dare speak out against its cruelty and barbarity;
Whereas, according to Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia's family in January 2022, since
his unlawful arrest on July 11, 2021, he had been subjected to months of
solitary confinement, physical and psychological torture, and inhumane
treatment from Cuban operatives, resulting in dire health conditions;
Whereas Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia suffers from severe headaches, breathing
problems, mouth bleeding, malnutrition, vision loss, and bouts of
coughing with an inability to sleep, can barely sit in a chair properly,
and shows physical signs of repeated torture;
Whereas, three years into his ongoing and unjust imprisonment by the Communist
regime, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia continues to be subjected to evil,
inhumane treatment and has not had contact with his family;
Whereas, like Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, three years after the historic
demonstration, an unknown number of protesters remain in prison,
including minors, many are being held without access to or communication
with family members, international human rights organizations, or legal
counsel, and some have even been disappeared;
Whereas, in an effort to intimidate Cubans from daring to protest again, the
Cuban regime has held mass sham ``trials'' that lack any semblance of
due process and has imposed disproportionate prison terms of up to 25
years for ill-defined charges such as ``public disorder, contempt, or
violence such as rock-throwing,'' according to media reports;
Whereas the brutal and illegitimate Communist regime represses the brave and
resilient men and women of Cuba who stand resolute in speaking out
against the regime's humanitarian crimes and efforts to persecute,
kidnap, torture, and eventually kill anyone who stands up against its
tyranny;
Whereas unilateral concessions to the Cuban regime in the form of weakened
economic sanctions have effectively rewarded malicious governance,
leading to more despicable and resolute repression of the Cuban people;
Whereas the corruption and failures of Cuba's closed, Communist economy, in
which many industries are run by the Cuban military, have failed the
people of Cuba; and
Whereas the international community should stand in solidarity with the Cuban
people in condemning the human rights atrocities committed by the
brutal, illegitimate, totalitarian, Communist regime and should demand
freedom and democracy for the men, women, and children of Cuba: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) commends the bravery, courage, and resolve of the
members of the pro-democracy movement and all freedom activists
in Cuba for risking their lives to bring freedom to the Cuban
people;
(2) condemns the repression of the hundreds of pro-
democracy activists and political prisoners, including
children, that the Cuban regime is unjustly detaining and
subjecting to physical and psychological torture, and calls for
their immediate and unconditional release;
(3) condemns the Cuban regime's brutal, totalitarian
dictatorship and demands an end to the suffering of the men,
women, and children of Cuba and the impunity of the regime's
human rights abusers;
(4) calls for the international community to stand with the
Cuban people and speak out against Cuba's repressive acts and
infringement on fundamental freedoms, such as expression,
belief, and assembly; and
(5) urges the Biden administration to put democracy, human
rights, and civil liberties at the core of its Cuba policy by
ceasing to provide unilateral concessions to the oppressive
Cuban regime and by tightening sanctions on the Cuban regime
until all conditions in United States law for removing
sanctions are met.
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