On the recordNovember 29, 2016
Mr. Speaker, the Cuban people can finally close one chapter in their 57-year nightmare of oppressive rule: Fidel Castro has died. When I was just 8 years old, I was forced to flee my native homeland of Cuba with my family. We were not the first, nor were we the last, to leave all that we had behind in search of freedom, democracy, opportunity, and safety. Many constituents I am so humbled to represent have had family members who did not survive their journey, yet they all risked their lives in fleeing Cuba because they felt the brutality of Fidel Castro. They witnessed firsthand the ruthlessness of the tyrant, and they felt that it was like having their human rights stripped from their very being. Their stories and their experiences--the firing squads, the gulags, and the torture--Mr. Speaker, will be Fidel Castro's legacy. ____________________
