Lincoln Diaz-Balart: “I take the floor today because a most distinguished colleague of ours took the floor earlier this morning and said that…”

“I take the floor today because a most distinguished colleague of ours took the floor earlier this morning and said that he had a meeting with dissidents in Havana, Cuba, last week, and he mentioned a couple of names of dissidents who were opposed to our sanctions against Castro. Mr. Speaker, it is not fair to mention those names and not mention that in that same meeting, in that same meeting, the most prestigious members of the internal opposition of Cuba came out in favor of sanctions and in favor of our Helms-Burton bill. I think that is only fair to mention. It is also fair, and I have got the names. I only have 1 minute, so I will submit them into the Record. I have the names of those people who got up and told our colleague that they supported sanctions. Also, another most prestigious member, Osvaldo Paya Sardinas, when an aids of our colleague wanted a show of hands, said, 'That's an internal intervention into our affairs and if the Congressmen of the United States want to support Cuba, they should support the internal opposition, support democracy, and start getting on the issue or putting pressure on Castro,' like we have done on other dictatorships in the past, such as South Africa or Chile. Mr. Speaker, I just want to set this record straight.”