Tom Lantos: “Mr. Speaker, after several years of masquerading as a liberalizing regime, the brutal and deplorable nature of Fidel…”

“Mr. Speaker, after several years of masquerading as a liberalizing regime, the brutal and deplorable nature of Fidel Castro's sickening communist state has manifested itself once again. In the last couple of weeks, Castro's thugs have arrested and detained approximately 80 Cubans. Their crime? They sought to express their disagreement with their government, provide an independent media voice, stock their shelves with banned literature that reports the interests of independent labor, and otherwise improve the lot of their fellow citizens. Among those arrested, Mr. Speaker, were prominent political dissidents, such as Marta Beatriz Roque; independent journalists, such as Raul Rivero and Ricardo Gonzalez; independent labor advocates, like Pedro Pablo Alvarez; and civil society activists, such as Antonio Diaz Sanchez of the Varela Project.”