Chris Smith: “I am very proud to be the principal sponsor of this resolution on human rights in Cuba and especially grateful to the…”

“I am very proud to be the principal sponsor of this resolution on human rights in Cuba and especially grateful to the chairwoman of the Subcommittee of International Relations and Human Rights, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), for her courage, for her consistency in promoting human rights in Cuba and all around the world. That consistency, I think, is very much needed in politics and in statesmanship, and I applaud her for it. I also want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart), who has been outstanding in his defense of those who labor against all odds time and time again. Mr. Diaz-Balart is a powerful voice in Congress on behalf of the persecuted and opposed. We had the only hearing last year on Elian Gonzalez when he was abducted and sent back to Cuba. We heard from a number of people who dealt with children's rights--or the lack of children's rights--in Cuba, who talked about how the child is molded by Marxist ideology and that the parents have little or no rights with regard to their own offspring.”