[Senate Hearing 112-603]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
S. Hrg. 112-603
THE PATH TO FREEDOM: COUNTERING REPRESSION AND STRENGTHENING CIVIL
SOCIETY IN CUBA
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON WESTERN HEMISPHERE, PEACE
CORPS, AND GLOBAL NARCOTICS AFFAIRS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JUNE 7, 2012
__________
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts, Chairman
BARBARA BOXER, California RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey BOB CORKER, Tennessee
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho
ROBERT P. CASEY, Jr., Pennsylvania MARCO RUBIO, Florida
JIM WEBB, Virginia JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
TOM UDALL, New Mexico MIKE LEE, Utah
William C. Danvers, Staff Director
Kenneth A. Myers, Jr., Republican Staff Director
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON WESTERN HEMISPHERE, PEACE
CORPS, AND GLOBAL NARCOTICS AFFAIRS
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey, Chairman
BARBARA BOXER, California MARCO RUBIO, Florida
JIM WEBB, Virginia MIKE LEE, Utah
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
TOM UDALL, New Mexico JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
(ii)
?
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Ferrer Garcia, Jose Daniel, leader, Cuba Patriotic Union,
Santiago De Cuba, Cuba......................................... 27
Fonseca Quevedo, Sara Marta, spokesperson, National Civic
Resistance Front, Cuban Pro-Democracy Leader, Havana, Cuba..... 30
Gonzalez, Normando Hernandez, fellow, National Endowment for
Democracy, former Cuban political prisoner, Washington, DC..... 18
Prepared statement........................................... 24
Jacobson, Hon. Roberta, Assistant Secretary of State for Western
Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC... 7
Prepared statement........................................... 9
Responses to questions submitted for the record by Senator
Benjamin L. Cardin......................................... 41
Responses to questions submitted for the record by Senator
Marco Rubio................................................ 42
Menendez, Hon. Robert, U.S. Senator from New Jersey, opening
statement...................................................... 1
Perez Antunez, Jorge Luis Garcia, political dissident, Havana,
Cuba........................................................... 32
Rubio, Hon. Marco, U.S. Senator from Florida, opening statement.. 5
(iii)
THE PATH TO FREEDOM: COUNTERING REPRESSION AND STRENGTHENING CIVIL
SOCIETY IN CUBA
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THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2012
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere,
Peace Corps, and Global Narcotics Affairs,
Committee on Foreign Relations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11 a.m., in
room SD-419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Robert
Menendez (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Senators Menendez and Rubio.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY
Senator Menendez. Good morning. The hearing on the Western
Hemisphere Affairs Subcommitte will come to order.
First of all, our apologies to the Secretary and to the
other witnesses. We had a vote on the floor and so we just came
from that.
Welcome to our hearing on ``The Path to Freedom: Countering
Repression and Supporting Civil Society in Cuba.'' A title that
is more than a mere designation of why we are here, but a
statement of what we must do for the people of Cuba and how we
can get there.
I want to thank our panelists for coming today. I look
forward to hearing their analysis and ideas on how we move down
the path to freedom.
I want to acknowledge the wife of Alan Gross, Judy Gross,
who is with us here today. And we are in solidarity with her
and her husband and believe that he should never have been
incarcerated and that he should, in fact, be free to come home
to his family.
In addition to the Assistant Secretary for the Western
Hemisphere Affairs, Roberta Jacobson, and former political
prisoner, Normando Hernandez, we will have the unusual
privilege of being joined by three individuals who have time
and again risked their personal freedom to advocate for basic
civil and human rights for their fellow Cubans.
This morning, they will again, simply because of their
willingness to express their opinions at this hearing, put
their personal freedom at risk by telling the truth about
conditions in Cuba and providing testimony before this
committee via digital videoconference and telephone. Their
participation is so sensitive that we were unable to include
their names on the original hearing notice and only have this
morning, following confirmation of their arrival at the U.S.
Interests Section in Havana, issued a new hearing notice.
We are deeply grateful for their courage and their
commitment to coming forward to speak about the realities of
life within Cuba and for their advocacy for the freedom of the
Cuban people. They are Jose Daniel Ferrer, who will speak to us
by phone, and Jorge Luis Garcia Perez ``Antunez'' and Sara
Marta Fonseca.
I must take this opportunity to thank the committee and the
State Department for their assistance in facilitating the
technical aspects of this hearing in D.C. and in Havana and for
providing interpretation services as well.
Let me begin by providing some context for today's hearing.
I am at once both encouraged and discouraged by conditions
inside of Cuba. I am encouraged by the tremendous growth of
civil society and the thousands of brave Cubans who every day
stand their ground despite harassment, the loss of jobs,
rations, and in many cases, their ultimate freedom as
retribution for their actions and by those who speak their
minds despite recurrent physical abuse, arbitrary arrests and
detentions.
At the same time, the arrests and detentions this year
alone are now more than 2,400, and that includes 1,158
documented arrests just in the month of March, a level not seen
in Cuba since the 1960s. The tremendous increase in repressive
actions against the Cuban people, recognized this week by the
U.N. Committee Against Torture, reveals the growing level of
discontent in Cuba and the inability of the regime to control
this growing movement.
The growth of civil society in Cuba is, in fact,
extraordinary, particularly if you consider the constraints
faced by activists living on an island in which they are
subject to constant observation, continuous harassment, and
frequent detentions by Cuban security forces, while having
limited means of communicating amongst themselves because the
island has virtually no free Internet capacity, and the
internal Intranet is obviously heavily monitored and completely
controlled by the regime.
It is even more impressive if you consider that the roots
of today's movement began to form inside Cuban prisons only in
the late 1980s and early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed
and the regime was weakened by the lack of Soviet
subsidization. The Cuban Committee for Human Rights fomented
the first seeds of civil discontent, basing its platform on the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
From there, the movement grew into 135 groups that made up
the umbrella group, the Concilio Cubano, which declared its
``determination to struggle for an absolutely peaceful and
nonviolent transition to a democratic state of law, rejecting
all hatred, violence, or revenge, and equally embracing all
Cubans everywhere.''
The Concilio's plans to hold a meeting on 24 February 1996
were blocked by the regime, which arrested many of the leading
activists, but it was in this moment that the regime won the
battle, but lost the war. The Concilio's brave actions became
legendary on and off the island, and their actions inspired
others to stand up and face the regime.
Across the island, a diverse collection of liberation
groups and freedom fighters sprang to life. They included
women's groups, human rights groups, associations of
independent lawyers and journalists, artists, and librarians.
Again and again, this pattern was repeated when the regime
sought to crush the supporters of the Varela Project, a
petition calling for a vote in favor of freedom of association
and expression, freedom of the press, free elections, the right
to operate private business, and an amnesty for political
prisoners and other activists on March 18, 2003, an event known
as the ``Black Spring.''
Cuba arrested and imprisoned 75 activists at that time,
including Normando Hernandez, who is with us today, and Jose
Daniel Ferrer Garcia, who will be calling on the phone in a
short while. Normando was exiled to Spain after serving 7 harsh
years as a political prisoner in Cuba. Jose Daniel served 8
years before being provided conditional release in March 2011.
Those 75 arrests again emboldened the opposition movement,
leading to the creation of the Damas de Blanco, which has
become a national symbol for a unified demand for freedom from
repression and tyranny. If the past is truly prologue, this
current wave of repression will only serve to further embolden
the movement, bring others into the cause, and eventually lead
to the freedom of the Cuban people.
The purpose of today's hearing is to call attention to the
wave of repression taking place inside of Cuba, and at the same
time, celebrate the courage of thousands of activists living on
the island, the thousands of Cubans who every day stand against
the regime, who every day put their personal freedom at risk
for the freedom of their countrymen and their nation.
Let me close with a few facts that we have distributed to
the audience. According to the 2011 State Department human
rights report, ``The principal human rights abuses in Cuba were
abridgement of the right of citizens to change their
government; government threats, intimidation, mobs, harassment,
and detentions to prevent citizens from assembling peacefully;
a significant increase in the number of short-term detentions,
which in December rose to the highest monthly number in 30
years. Most human rights abuses were official acts committed at
the direction of the government, and consequently, the
perpetrators enjoyed impunity for their actions.''
According to Freedom House, Cuba is ranked 190 out of 197
countries in terms of press freedom, right between Syria and
Iran. During just the month of March 2012, there were 1,158
documented political arrests by the Castro regime in Cuba.
According to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights, this
represents ``the highest monthly number of documented arrests
in five decades.''
Cuba has also seen its share of martyrs on this journey in
the deaths of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and Wilman Villar after
lengthy prison hunger strikes and that of Juan Wilfredo Soto
after a beating by security officials.
Amongst the most recent detainees are Rogelio Tavio Lopez,
who was arrested March 2 on charges of public disorder and
actions against the norm in the development of a minor.
Niurka Luque Alvarez and Sonia Garro Alfonso of Damas de
Blanco, who were arrested in mid-March during a wave of arrests
leading up to the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Cuba.
Jorge Vazquez Chaviano, who was arrested on March 27 as he
stepped out of his home in Sagua la Grande, Villa Clara, in
hopes of traveling to Havana to attend Pope Benedict's mass.
Bismarck Mustelier Galan, an activist with the Patriotic
Union of Cuba, who was arrested April 1. Prosecutors are
seeking a 2-year prison sentence against him.
Danny Lopez de Moya, who was sentenced in April to 18
months in prison after he was arrested in February for wearing
a shirt denouncing the Castro regime for the deaths of
political prisoners Pedro Luis Boitel, Orlando Zapata, and
Wilman Villar Mendoza.
And 10 political prisoners are currently on hunger strike
in the Guantanamo prison, demanding Cuba follow international
standards for prisons. They are Leoncio Rodriguez Ponce, Andy
Frometa Cuenca, Jesus Manuel Pena Ramirez, Alfredo Noa
Estopinan, Miguel Matos Gainza, Leonardo Cantillo Galvan,
Heriberto Tellez Reinosa, Juan Humberto Becerra Alfonso,
Rolando Tudela Iribar, Yoandri Lafargue Rober.
Their courage, their sacrifice, is what we can never forget
in our dealings with a dictatorial, repressive regime that has
ruled Cuba with an iron hand since the middle of the last
century. Still today, 23 years after the fall of the Berlin
Wall, Cubans remain trapped in a closed society, cut off from
the advancements of the world, repressed, threatened, fearful
of saying or doing something that will land them in prison,
often for years.
So we urge every American to remember all the victims of
Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, just as we remember all
those around the world who have suffered and died under the
iron fist of other repressive dictatorships--in Cambodia under
the Khmer Rouge; in Iran under the Ayatollah; in Iraq under
Saddam Hussein; in Bosnia under Milosevic; and in the brutal
genocide in Darfur.
As I have said many times before, the Cuban people are no
less deserving of America's support than the millions who were
imprisoned and forgotten in Soviet gulags, lost to their
families and left to die for nothing more than a single
expression of dissent.
I am compelled to ask again today, as I have before, why is
there such an obvious double standard when it comes to Cuba?
Why are the gulags of Cuba so different from the gulags of the
old Soviet Union? Why are we willing to tighten sanctions
against Iran, but loosen them when it comes to an equally
repressive regime inside of Cuba?
When it comes to Cuba, why are we so willing to throw up
our hands and say it is time to forget? It is not time to
forget. We can never forget those who have suffered and died at
the hands of dictators. Not in Iran. Not in Cuba. Not anywhere.
It is clear the repression in Cuba continues unabated,
notwithstanding all of the calls to ease travel restrictions
and sanctions; notwithstanding millions of visitors from across
the globe; notwithstanding greater resources that the regime
now has in terms of currency; notwithstanding calls to step
back and, in effect, let bygones be bygones. That has not
stopped the repression.
The repression, the imprisonment, the beatings, the torture
still continues. In good conscience, I, for one, cannot and
will not step back from that. As long as we have a voice in the
United States Senate, that voice will be for the freedom of the
Cuban people.
With that, let me recognize the distinguished ranking
member of the committee, Senator Rubio.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARCO RUBIO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA
Senator Rubio. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And first of all, Secretary Jacobson, thanks for being
here. Thanks for your service to our country.
And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding these hearings. I,
in the interest of time, will limit my remarks. And second, I
doubt I could do it more eloquently than you have already done,
and I echo every word you said. I just wanted to add a few
things.
First, I think this hearing is also important because it
allows us to illustrate what is happening just 90 miles from
our shores. I think for many Americans and for many, as we look
around the world, we somehow have come to think that
totalitarianism, dictatorship, the abuses, human rights abuses
are something that happen somewhere else.
They happen in our very own hemisphere, literally within 90
miles from the shores of this country. They happen in Cuba, and
they have been happening now for a very long time. What exists
in Cuba is not some cold war relic of interest. It is, in fact,
three things.
First of all, it is an extremely repressive regime, as
repressive perhaps as any other regime in the entire world. A
manipulative regime, one that deliberately divides families
against each other, that deliberately manipulates people who
travel to the island of Cuba, that deliberately manipulates
United States policy toward Cuba to their advantage.
It is a one-way street. Even our best intentions are
manipulated. Families are deliberately divided by the Cuban
Government, where they know that they can allow half the family
to come here so they can send remittances back to the island to
their relatives in a cynical effort to divide not just the
Cuban people, but the Cuban families.
And the one thing we can't forget that despite their
repressiveness and their manipulativeness and the evil that
exists in that regime, it also happens to be an economically
incompetent one. They are very good at repressing people. They
are very good at keeping people jailed on the island. What they
are not good at is running a country.
They are literally incompetent leaders. They have no idea
how to run an economy, how to create the conditions for job
creation. And that, and that alone, is the reason why the Cuban
people suffer economically, because their leaders literally do
not know what they are doing.
Now, the other thing I would say is that our goal here, as
the United States and as people who care deeply about human
rights all over the world, is that the people of Cuba have
freedom, the freedom to choose any economic model they want,
but the freedom to choose their leader so they can have any
economic model they want.
What direction Cuba goes economically, that belongs to the
Cuban people. That is not for us to say. What is for us to
stand for is democracy and the right of the Cuban people to
determine their own future. That is what we stand for.
In the United States, with some very rare exception, there
is no debate on that topic. What there is debate about is the
tactics about which we accomplish this.
Now I think I have been on record in the past as
questioning the tactics of this administration, not because I
question their motives or their intentions, because I, quite
frankly, think the tactics that this administration has pursued
are naive. The notion that somehow by flooding Cuba with
tourists and people-to-people contacts we are going to somehow
change the Cuban Government is naive.
The Cuban Government manipulates our policy toward Cuba to
their advantage. I repeat it is a one-way street. So I don't
think the United States or this administration is doing it out
of bad intentions, but I don't think they fully grasp what we
are dealing with here.
And what I have found is that even among some of my
colleagues in the Senate who fly to Cuba or travel to Cuba with
the notion that they are going to set things straight, they are
going to be the ones that get things going. They are going to
talk some sense into these folks. And many of them return
scratching their heads and shaking their heads because they
have come face-to-face with how truly manipulative and good at
manipulating people and circumstances this repressive regime
has become.
I hope one of the things we will be able to talk about
today and over the next few months are some new tactics. One of
the things I would love to see, and I have talked to the
chairman about it, is somehow figuring out a way to give the
people of Cuba access to the Internet, free and clear of
interference from the government.
Because I believe with all my heart that if the people of
Cuba had access to the Internet and could communicate with one
another--literally, they could follow each other on Twitter and
Facebook and get news from the outside world, free to choose
any news they want to access--I do not believe the Castro
regime could survive that for very long. And so, I hope we will
explore options to doing that.
I close my statement with a message to the people who work
for the government in Cuba, and particularly those involved in
the repression because I know they like to watch these
hearings. They may even have some people here in the audience
today. So let me give you a message to take back.
If you are involved in beating people, if you are involved
in jailing people in Cuba, if the government is using you,
whether it is here in the United States as part of the
Interests Section or in Cuba, in abusing human rights, your
name is being recorded, and you are part of a government that
is not sustainable. The government you work for cannot survive.
Fidel Castro is halfway gone, and his brother will be gone,
too. And when they are gone, the system of government in place
in Cuba cannot survive. But your name is going to be recorded,
and you will be brought before justice.
If you are a police officer, if you are a military official
in Cuba involved in human rights abuses, your name is being
written down, and you will have to answer for those crimes
before a Cuban court or an international one. You need to think
about that before you cooperate with some of the things that
are happening to some of the folks that we are hearing about
today.
Because you are part of a system that cannot survive and
that long after those leaders are gone, you are going to be
left behind picking up the pieces of what you are doing right
now. And so, I hope that message gets there. I will be more
than happy to deliver it in Spanish as well after the hearing.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Menendez. Thank you, Senator Rubio, very much.
Let me recognize Assistant Secretary Roberta Jacobson, who
served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the
Western Hemisphere Affairs before this present assignment,
Senior Coordinator for Citizen Security Initiative of the
Western Hemisphere. She has also served as the Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Canada, Mexico on NAFTA Issues in the Bureau, and
was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru,
from 2000 to 2002.
She has a long and distinguished record in the Western
Hemisphere, and we are pleased to have her here with us today.
So I would ask you to summarize your testimony in about 5
minutes. Your full statement will be entered into the record,
and we are pleased to have you and acknowledge you now.
STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERTA JACOBSON, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF
STATE FOR WESTERN HEMISPHERE AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
WASHINGTON, DC
Ms. Jacobson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Rubio, I am delighted for
the opportunity to be here today, and I appreciate this
subcommittee's engagement in the Western Hemisphere and your
commitment to shared democratic values, human rights, and
expanding economic and social opportunity in the Americas.
In most countries in the Western Hemisphere, we see
governments working to provide greater political and economic
opportunity for citizens, but there remain exceptions. That is
why supporting human rights, democratic governance, and greater
prosperity remains a fundamental U.S. objective throughout the
hemisphere, but especially in Cuba.
In Cuba, the Obama administration's priority is to empower
Cubans to freely determine their own future. The most effective
tool we have for doing that is building connections between the
Cuban and American people in order to give Cubans the support
and tools they need to move forward independent of their
government.
U.S. citizens engaging in well-defined, purposeful travel
are the best ambassadors for our democratic ideals. The
hundreds of thousands of Cuban Americans who have sent
remittances and traveled to the island since we eased the way
for them early in the administration are a central part of a
strategy to ensure that Cubans have these opportunities.
Our policy also recognizes the importance of engaging with
pro-democracy and human rights activists, some of whom you will
speak to today, who have been working for years to expand the
political and civil rights of all Cubans. Our programs provide
humanitarian assistance to political prisoners and their
families, support the documentation of human rights abuses, and
promote the free flow of information to, from, and within the
island.
Last year, Secretary Clinton recognized Cuban blogger,
Yoani Sanchez, with the 2011 International Women of Courage
Award, and the Damas de Blanco won the State Department's 2011
Human Rights Defenders Award.
In 2010 and 2011, the Cuban Government, with support from
the Spanish Government and Catholic Church, released dozens of
political prisoners, most on condition of exile in Spain. We
welcomed the release of these political prisoners, including
the last of the 75 peaceful activists who were unjustly
arrested during the Black Spring of 2003.
Unfortunately, the release did not effect a fundamental
change in the Cuban Government's poor record on human rights.
The government has continued to punish political dissent,
increasingly using repeated short-term arbitrary detentions to
prevent citizens from assembling peacefully and freely
expressing their opinions and it continues to limit fundamental
freedoms.
It has continued to threaten and harass peaceful human
rights defenders, including the Damas de Blanco, and that is
why we will continue to support an independent civil society
and the right of the Cuban people to freely determine their own
future through both governmental policy and the facilitation of
nongovernmental engagement.
Despite the Cuban Government's intolerance of political
dissent, faith-based organizations have gained more latitude to
conduct religious outreach and provide vital social services to
marginalized Cubans. And, the administration has taken steps to
support religious groups in Cuba by authorizing U.S. religious
organizations to sponsor religious travel and allowing
unlimited remittances to support religious activities in Cuba.
Against this backdrop, we also highlight the case of Alan
Gross, who has been unjustly imprisoned in Cuba since December
2009, and I, too, would like to greet Judy Gross at this
hearing. We will continue to seek the immediate release of this
dedicated development worker and loving father, husband, and
son.
Enhancing access to communication technology will
facilitate Cuba's process of political change. Our Interests
Section in Havana provides free Internet access to human rights
activists and other Cubans, teaches basic information
technology skills, and provides training to independent
journalists.
To Cuba and other governments across the hemisphere, our
message must be clear. Nonviolent dissent is not criminal
behavior. Opposition to the government is not criminal
behavior. Exercise of free speech is not criminal behavior. To
the contrary, free speech is a right that must be defended.
I know that this subcommittee is committed to ensuring full
respect for freedom of expression in the Americas, and in some
countries in the region, we have seen new tactics used by
governments and other actors determined to silence those who
challenge them, including threats and violence against
journalists and government regulations aimed at silencing
critics. Wherever it occurs in our hemisphere, we need to
confront these new measures to limit freedom of expression.
In closing, let me emphasize that we will be the first to
cheer when a democratically chosen government in Cuba resumes
its full participation in the inter-American system. This
hemisphere has been a trailblazer in enshrining democratic
principles in its national and regional institutions to the
shared benefit of the peoples of the Americas. These principles
remain critically relevant in the hemisphere, to its challenges
and its future, as we underscored most recently in the OAS
General Assembly in Bolivia.
I look forward to continuing to work with you to promote
greater freedom and prosperity in Cuba and throughout the
hemisphere.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Jacobson follows:]
Prepared Statement of Assistant Secretary Roberta S. Jacobson
Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Rubio, members of the committee,
thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I appreciate this
subcommittee's engagement in the Western Hemisphere and applaud its
commitment to shared democratic values, human rights, and expanding
social and economic opportunity in the Americas.
In most countries in the Western Hemisphere, we see governments
working to provide greater political and economic opportunities for
citizens but there remain exceptions. That is why supporting human
rights, democratic governance, and greater prosperity remains a
fundamental U.S. objective throughout the hemisphere, especially in
Cuba.
In Cuba, the Obama administration's priority is to empower Cubans
to freely determine their own future. The most effective tool we have
for doing that is building connections between the Cuban and American
people, in order to give Cubans the support and tools they need to move
forward independent of their government. U.S. citizens, engaging in
well-defined, purposeful travel, are the best ambassadors for our
democratic ideals. The hundreds of thousands of Cuban Americans who
have sent remittances and traveled to the island since we eased the way
for them early in this administration are a central part of a strategy
to ensure that Cubans have the opportunities which they deserve. The
administration's travel, remittance, and people-to-people policies are
helping Cubans by providing alternative sources of information, taking
advantage of emerging opportunities for self-employment and private
property, and strengthening independent civil society.
Our policy also recognizes the importance of engaging with the pro-
democracy and human rights activists who have been working for years to
expand the political and civil rights of all Cubans. As Secretary
Clinton has stated, societies move forward when groups of citizens work
together peacefully to transform common interests into common actions
that serve the common good. Our programs in Cuba provide humanitarian
assistance to political prisoners and their families, support the
documentation of human rights abuses, and promote the free flow of
information to, from, and within the island. We consistently support
and highlight the work of people promoting positive change in Cuba.
Last year, Secretary Clinton recognized Cuban blogger, Yoani Sanchez,
with the 2011 International Woman of Courage, and the Damas de Blanco
(Ladies in White) won the State Department's 2011 Human Rights
Defenders Award.
In 2010 and 2011, the Cuban Government, with support from the
Spanish Government and Catholic Church, released dozens of political
prisoners, most on the condition of exile in Spain. We welcomed the
release of these political prisoners--including the last of the 75
peaceful activists who were unjustly arrested during the ``Black
Spring'' of 2003 for exercising their universal rights and fundamental
freedoms. We were especially pleased that twelve of these brave
individuals, including Jose Daniel Ferrer and Presidential Medal of
Freedom winner Oscar Biscet, successfully campaigned to remain in Cuba.
Unfortunately, their release did not effect a fundamental change in the
Cuban Government's poor record on human rights. The Cuban Government
has continued to punish political dissent, increasingly using repeated,
short-term, arbitrary detentions to prevent citizens from assembling
peacefully and freely expressing their opinions. It continues to limit
fundamental freedoms, including freedoms of speech, freedom of the
press, access to information, and peaceful assembly and association--
issues on which this subcommittee has strongly spoken out, on, and for,
which it has long advocated for in the region. And it has continued to
threaten and harass peaceful human rights defenders, including the
courageous ``Ladies in White'' (``Damas de Blanco''). That is why we
will continue to support an independent Cuban civil society and the
right of the Cuban people to freely determine their own future, through
both governmental policy and the facilitation of nongovernmental
engagement.
Despite the Cuban Government's intolerance of political dissent,
faith-based organizations have gained more latitude to conduct
religious outreach and provide vital social services to marginalized
Cubans. We respect the efforts of various denominations to win greater
space within Cuba and value their charitable work. The administration
has taken steps to support religious groups in Cuba by authorizing U.S.
religious organizations to sponsor religious travel, and allowing
unlimited remittances to support religious activities in Cuba.
Against this backdrop, we also highlight the case of Alan Gross,
who has been unjustly imprisoned in Cuba since December 2009. We will
continue to seek the immediate release of this dedicated development
worker and loving husband, father, and son.
Enhancing access to communication technology will facilitate Cuba's
process of political change. Our U.S. Interests Section in Havana
provides free Internet access to human rights activists and other
Cubans, teaches basic information technology skills, and provides
training to independent journalists. Although the Cuban Government
severely restricts the ability of Cubans to access the Internet, cell
phones were legalized in Cuba in 2008, and since then cell phone usage
has more than doubled, enhancing the connectivity of Cuban civil
society. Activists can now report human rights abuses by SMS and on
Twitter.
To Cuba and other governments across the hemisphere, our message
must be clear: nonviolent dissent is not criminal behavior. Opposition
to the government is not criminal behavior. Exercise of free speech is
not criminal behavior. To the contrary, free speech is a right that
must be defended.
Let me expand on this last point briefly. Mr. Chairman, I know that
you are committed to ensuring full respect for freedom of expression in
the Americas. I would like to applaud the subcommittee's efforts to
underline the importance of freedom of expression in our hemisphere. In
some countries in the region, we have seen new tactics used by
governments and other actors determined to silence those who challenge
them. These include threats and violence against journalists,
government regulations aimed at silencing critics, abusive requirements
to carry obligatory government broadcasts, and disproportionate and
unprecedented lawsuits against media owners. Wherever it occurs in our
hemisphere, we need to confront these new measures to limit freedom of
expression.
In closing, let me emphasize that our policy toward Cuba is focused
on supporting Cubans' desire to freely and peacefully determine their
future. We will be the first to cheer when a democratically chosen
government in Cuba resumes its full participation in the Inter-American
system. This hemisphere has been a trailblazer in enshrining democratic
principles in its national and regional institutions, to the enormous
shared benefit of the peoples of the Americas. Those principles remain
critically relevant to the hemisphere, its challenges, and its future
as we underscored most recently at the OAS General Assembly in Bolivia.
Again, I appreciate your commitment to human rights, democracy,
economic growth, and security in the Western Hemisphere. I look forward
to continuing to work with you to promote greater freedom and
prosperity in Cuba.
Thank you and I look forward to answering any questions the
committee may have.
Senator Menendez. Thank you, Madam Secretary.
Let me start off by saying that I find it very difficult to
understand some of the administration's views as it relates to
strengthening civil society inside of Cuba, strengthening the
information flow that Senator Rubio talked about, and the
policies that we adopt. I am outraged with the Department's
decision to authorize visas for a stream of Cuban regime
officials to visit the United States, starting with Josefina
Vidal, Cuba's Director for North American Affairs, in April,
whose husband was ultimately kicked out of the U.N. mission in
New York.
Most recently, I am outraged by the approval of visas for
the daughter of Cuban dictator Raul Castro, Mariela Castro
Espin, and her friends to attend the Latin American Studies
Association conference. I do not understand how, as the Castro
regime holds an American hostage for over 2\1/2\ years and when
we have, as described, the highest monthly number of documented
arrests in five decades, we permit Mariela Castro to be
parading around the United States on a publicity tour, largely
declaring herself a disidente. I don't know what she is a
disidente of.
I want to know under what authority were Ms. Castro and
other Communist Party officials issued visas to enter the
United States? Did the Department exercise its waiver authority
under Executive Order 5377 to issue these visas? And how do you
justify giving those visas when you have this incredible
repression inside of Cuba and an American citizen languishing
for 2\1/2\ years in Castro's jails for nothing more than
helping the Jewish community in Havana to try to communicate
with each other?
Ms. Jacobson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to start off by saying that certainly no one has
been more outraged at Alan Gross' detention and continued
detention, and we will continue to do everything that we can to
see that he is home with his family, as he should be now with
his mother and his family.
Senator Menendez. But everything that we can do would
include sending the regime a message that you can't keep an
American in prison and then have all your people parade over
here. To me, that is an oxymoron.
Ms. Jacobson. Senator, under the regulations for visas, and
which we look at every time that we have visa applications from
any citizen, but certainly Cuban citizens, we look at the full
range of national security, foreign policy, immigration laws
and regulations, including reviewing, obviously, Proclamation
5377. In the cases of Mariela Castro and Eusebio Leal, those
two cases did not fall under the exception requirement of
Proclamation 5377, as that was effectively implemented since
1999 under Secretary Albright.
And so, those Cubans were allowed to come to the United
States to speak openly because in our country, they are able to
do so, despite my not agreeing at all with the statements of
Mariela Castro, obviously. And to speak at the Latin American
Studies Association and at other events.
In the case of Josefina Vidal, she had originally applied
for that visa to do work with the Interests Section here in
Washington. We obviously apply for visas to go to Havana to
work with our own Interests Section. And we felt that it was
appropriate to allow her to come into this country and work
with the Interests Section here under that principle of
reciprocity, recognizing that we want to be able to meet with
and talk to the widest range of people in Cuba that we possibly
can and recognizing that the Cuban Government does not always
allow us that.
Senator Menendez. Are you suggesting that Mariela Castro is
not a Communist Party official?
Ms. Jacobson. I am not suggesting that she may not be a
member of the Communist Party. But as the proclamation was
interpreted and effectively narrowed in 1999, she was not a
senior party official.
Senator Menendez. The United States denies visas to all
types of people all across the world. It has broad jurisdiction
in doing so. You exercised your discretion in giving a visa to
these individuals who are part of a repressive system inside of
Cuba, which has an American languishing in jail. You had the
authority to say no.
You talk about reciprocity. Every time I have talked to the
head of our Interests Section, both those now and in the past,
that reciprocity is not ultimately observed inside of Cuba.
They are restricted in their travel inside of Cuba. They are
restricted in their actions inside of Cuba.
So what we are doing is giving a one-way street here and
sending a totally wrong message. Those who fight for freedom
inside of Cuba each and every day, they languish there. And yet
those who oppress them, they get to come to the United States
and carry out their propaganda.
I understand the beauty of our freedom, but there is also a
public policy decision to say we do not condone this type of
behavior. I guess we would allow Syria's dictatorship to come
here and express their views. Last I saw, we expelled their
diplomats from the United States.
The bottom line is we make choices all the time in terms of
promoting the national interests and security of the United
States, and certainly, the national interests of the United
States have to be to see democracy fostered inside of Cuba and
not to allow those who repress democracy to come to the United
States to promote their propaganda.
Let me turn to another set of circumstances that I don't
understand policywise, which is the whole ``people to people''
travel to Cuba. Since the administration eased restrictions on
travels and remittances in April 2009, the Castro regime has
doubled its hard currency reserves in foreign banks. The Bank
for International Settlements reported banks in 43 countries
held $5.76 billion in Cuban deposits as of March 2011, which is
the date that we have figures for, compared with $4.2 billion
at the close of 2009 and $2.8 billion at the close of 2008.
So it is very clear, because nothing else has changed
inside of the island in terms of revenue source, that we are
essentially bankrolling the regime and stashing its hard
currency abroad. I look at that, and I say to myself, look at
the travel.
In the time that we have permitted this travel we have seen
salsa tours, visits to Hemingway's marina, cigar factory tours,
performances of the Cuban National Ballet at the Gran Teatro,
and my all-time favorite, part of Inside Cuba's ``Undiscovered
Cuba'' trip, the opportunity in Santa Clara to visit the Che
Memorial, where the Cuban revolutionary was laid to rest, where
you meet with an historian to ultimately understand Che's
legacy.
This is a tremendous way to help civil society inside Cuba
promote democracy and human rights by dramatically increasing
the Castro regime's ability to have resources to oppress its
people while we see the highest amount of repression, as has
been said by those within Cuba, in five decades.
Tell me how that policy is working.
Ms. Jacobson. Senator, there are other reasons--as
difficult as it is to ascertain actual statistics on Cuban
revenues, there are other things we believe have----
Senator Menendez. You don't dispute those reserves, right?
They are internationally reported.
Ms. Jacobson. We have certainly seen those reports,
obviously, of the increase in reserves. But there have also
been increases until fairly recently in prices for nickel and
recovery from the 2008 hurricanes in Cuba. Because of their
policy of import substitution industrialization, an increasing
number of countries and firms have required increased cash and
reserves because of Cuba's bad credit risk, quite frankly.
So we believe there are many different reasons that their
reserves may have increased. Certainly, we do not believe there
is a sole reason for the increase.
Senator Menendez. Do you dispute that the largest increase
in reserves to the Castro regime is a combination of
remittances and travel money that is going into Cuba?
Ms. Jacobson. I simply don't know that that is the reason
directly one to one for the increase in reserves.
Senator Menendez. So nickel has increased so much that it
has now created an increase of $2 billion in reserves?
Ms. Jacobson. Well, I know that there are multiple reasons
that they may have increased their reserves, and I do know that
there are obviously increased funds from remittances and
travel. But we don't know that that is the whole reason.
Senator Menendez. Talk to me about how the Che Memorial
really helps create civil society inside of Cuba.
Ms. Jacobson. Senator, there are abuses that are committed
in the regulations that we promulgated for purpose of travel.
Senator Menendez. But you have created regulations that
permit abuses to take place rather widely.
Ms. Jacobson. There are also some very positive things
happening in the interactions between Americans, religious
organizations, humanitarian groups, human rights outreach that
are occurring under this program.
Senator Menendez. And those successes ultimately can be
justified in the context of record numbers of imprisonments?
Ms. Jacobson. We think that the benefits over time of the
increased contact to the Cuban people and their ability to
change the situation in Cuba will outweigh the negatives. But
certainly, as I have stated in my opening statement, we do not
in any way condone or tolerate the increased detentions and
harassment of Cubans inside the island.
Senator Menendez. Well, it is hard to understand how you
have this dramatic increase. The one fundamental thing that has
changed is that there is an unlimited flow of remittances and,
visits like these ``tours'' to the Che Memorial--all of these
things where you don't interact with average Cubans, you don't
engage average Cubans. You are self-reporting. So that is why
the abuses largely are allowed because you create a general
license in which anyone can go, and therefore, you have no real
reporting of travel itineraries and engagements.
So smoking a Cuban cigar made by those who are not free,
having a Cuba libre on the beaches of Varadero, which is an
oxymoron, is not the way in which we liberate the Cuban people.
Giving the regime more money for its repressive apparatus,
which obviously in the face of all of these benefits have only
dramatically increased the number of arrests, not decreased it,
has not created a more open opportunity for civil peaceful
society to promote themselves and is not my idea of success.
And I don't know how many people have to be arrested, how
many Americans have to languish in jail before we send a
totally different message to the regime.
Senator Rubio.
Senator Rubio. Yes, before we leave the visa topic, because
you touched upon a point about how we deny visas all the time,
I want to use an example, just to see why this doesn't make any
sense to me.
Maybe a decade and a half ago, the United States, in
cooperation with the Government of Honduras, conducted an
operation to capture a gentleman responsible for the murder of
an American agent. One of the people in that was a Honduran who
now lives in the United States. And a decade and a half later,
under a new government, new court system, he has been indicted
for that operation that the United States--in Honduras, he was
indicted in an operation conducted by the United States in
conjunction with the Honduran Government.
Sadly, his grandchildren--his daughter and her husband were
murdered in Honduras about 4 months ago, and he has three
grandchildren who have applied for a tourist visa to enter the
United States and visit their grandfather and were, quite
frankly, treated very rudely yesterday at the consulate, and
their three visas denied. But Raul Castro's daughter is
parading through the streets of the United States of America.
And obviously, I hope that that denial will be
reconsidered. It is not the topic of this hearing, and I know
you didn't make that decision. But my point is that I don't get
it.
I don't understand how three little children, three
orphaned children who want to visit their grandfather in the
United States are somehow deemed--or denied a tourist visa. But
the same government that denied them the tourist visa gave one
to Mariela Castro so she could come to the United States and
justify the fact that they are holding an American hostage. To
come to the United States and call dissidents ``despicable
parasites,'' people who all they want basically is for their
country to have freedom and self-determination. So I hope we
can have a further conversation about that process.
I do want to touch on two other things quickly. Talked
about the Internet, and I saw in your statement you talked
about free Internet access at the Interests Section. That is a
good thing. And I have talked to Senator Menendez about this a
little bit. I am very interested in the possibility, and I
would like to work with you and the State Department in the
possibility of providing Internet access through satellite into
Cuba.
There are existing commercial satellites now that beam
signals throughout the world. If you have a receiver, right now
in Cuba, you could receive satellite signals from any number of
satellites that are up there now. Obviously, you have to be
able to pay for the subscription service.
If somehow we could figure out a way for the Government to
do that, whether it is through our broadcasting efforts or
otherwise, we could potentially provide a vehicle. But
obviously, the people of Cuba would have to have access to the
computer equipment that would allow them to access the Internet
through the satellite.
But it is technologically feasible for the United States to
be involved in sponsoring Internet access for 13 million people
on the island of Cuba, which I think if the people on Cuba had
an opportunity to have access--for example, if they could read
Yoani Sanchez's Tweets, which is very difficult. We can see it
in the outside world, but sometimes she can't even see her own
Tweets.
Facebook. If somehow the dissidents in Cuba were able to
quickly post on YouTube videos about the abuses that are
happening there. And more importantly, if they were able to
talk to one another and have access to the outside world in
terms of information, I think that is one of the single
greatest contributions that this country could make to the
advancement of freedom and democracy on the island.
And I hope we can work with your office to put something
like this together, which I really think would be a very cost-
effective way to further the cause of freedom and liberty.
And the last thing I hope that State will consider is a
mechanism by which we can begin to create, if it doesn't exist
already--and maybe it does--a registry where dissidents and
resistance and others on the island could register the names of
human rights abusers so that the world can know their names, so
that they can be held to justice if and when the day comes.
These are people that are part of the flash mobs on the
street. These are people that wear uniforms but, in fact, are
thugs. And they beat people and they torture people and they
jail people, and they are fully cooperating with this
government and its endeavors. I think their names need to be
recorded. I think we need to know who they are.
Some of these folks, by the way, wind up here in the United
States. A few years later, they change their minds. They
decide, oh, we don't like what is going on in Cuba, and then
they are walking in Miami around the street. So I would like to
know their names as well.
But I know that dissidents keep track of who these
individuals are, and there is going to be a free Cuba soon.
There is going to be. And these folks need to be held
accountable. And I hope we will consider sponsoring some sort
of registry where we can publicize the names of these folks, of
who they are and what they are conducting so that it is clear
there for the record in the future when the time comes for them
to be held up to justice.
Ms. Jacobson. Thank you, Senator.
And I look forward to working with you on these issues, and
in particular, as you know, we think it is absolutely critical
that greater information, greater access to information be
given to the Cuban people. That is why so much of our efforts
are focused on that, whether in the Interests Section or in our
assistance programs.
There are some reports that say there are well over double
the number of cell phones in Cuba now than there were just a
short number of years ago when they were first permitted. And I
think this is a trend that we certainly want to engage with you
on encouraging.
Senator Menendez. Two last sets of questions. One is on
that note. One of the reasons that the Castro regime arrested
Alan Gross was to try to chill the very essence of what our
democracy programs are inside of Cuba. And after Mr. Gross'
arrest, a series of actions were taken, and grantees were
basically told to refrain from activities that ultimately are
just about creating an ability for Cubans to communicate with
each other about what is happening inside of their country.
I hear you say that we support that, and I certainly am
very interested in Senator Rubio's idea here. I would love to
see us possibly fund such an initiative. Have you not chilled
all of those grantees in terms of their engagement inside of
Cuba, which is exactly what the regime wants?
Ms. Jacobson. Senator, I don't think that we have. Clearly,
the regime is trying to send us a message about the ability to
get information around Cuba and connect Cubans to each other,
and I think we have to continue to try and ensure that in the
environment that our democracy programs operate in Cuba, we do
them as safely for the participants and as effectively as we
possibly can. That is the intention of our conversations and
our review of all of our grant programs.
Senator Menendez. Well, having spoken to many of the
grantees, both past and present, it seems to me that we are
sending a far different message, and, in essence, we have never
permitted our worldwide democracy or surrogate broadcasting
programs to be impinged upon by either jamming or policies of a
regime to stop, in essence, the very essence of what we are
trying to accomplish in our democracy programs.
And so, I would really look forward to having a sit-down
about all of the programs and how they are not necessarily
accomplishing what we want.
Finally, I heard you refered to Mr. Gross before, and I
want to know what is the present status? I mean, obviously, he
is in jail. The question is, Has the regime made any offers,
any suggestions about his freedom to the State Department?
Ms. Jacobson. Certainly they have not responded to any of
our entreaties, demands, or requests that he be allowed to come
home with his family with any acceptable response, which would
be, yes, now. There has been no response from the Cuban
Government in our conversations either with them or their
public statements that they are willing to do that.
Certainly, most recently, we have focused on Mr. Gross'
mother who is gravely ill and is 90 years old, Evelyn Gross,
and the fact that he should be released on humanitarian grounds
to be able to see her. And we have pressed that very hard, and
we have not gotten a satisfactory answer at all on that.
Senator Menendez. Did you not permit one of the individuals
who had been released after his custody to go back to Cuba and
promote a humanitarian ability in that respect?
Ms. Jacobson. Senator, in that particular case, the Justice
Department objected to his return to Cuba on that visit. But
the court allowed him to go back to Cuba. Frankly, the court
having done so, we thought that was a perfect opportunity for
the Cuban Government to take a humanitarian gesture and let Mr.
Gross see his mother, and they did not.
Senator Menendez. And they did not, which is par for the
course. It is a one-way street.
Thank you very much for your testimony. There may be
questions that come to you through the committee. We look
forward to your answering them.
Let me call up, both here and in Cuba, our next set of
witnesses. First, Mr. Normando Hernandez, who is here
physically with us. He is an independent journalist who has
dedicated his career to providing alternative sources of news
and information in Cuba. He cofounded the Cuban Foundation for
Human Rights, and established the Camaguey Association of
Journalists, the first independent organization in the Camaguey
province since 1959.
He was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty
International following Cuba's Black Spring. He was exiled to
Spain in 2010 and has since resettled in the United States. Mr.
Hernandez is currently a fellow at the National Endowment for
Democracy, where he is examining the Cuban communications
monopoly and considering strategies by which independent
journalists may combat totalitarianism, and we welcome him to
our committee.
Inside of Cuba, by telephone through the U.S. Interests
Section, we welcome Mr. Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia. He is a
leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba and organizer of the
Varela Project, a campaign to put political and economic
constitutional reforms to a vote through an initiative process.
During the Black Spring, he was arrested, tried, convicted,
and sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the
campaign. While in prison, Mr. Ferrer worked as an independent
journalist to report the abuses he witnessed behind prison bars
and the courage of other prisoners of conscience. In March
2011, after serving 8 years in prison, he was granted a
conditional release, and we welcome him.
By video conference, we welcome Ms. Sara Marta Fonseca, a
distinguished leader of the Partido Pro Derechos Humanos de
Cuba. As captured in the now-famous photographs, Ms. Fonseca
was publicly roughed up by government authorities during the
Black Spring crackdown. Years later, after putting signs
outside her house that read ``long live human rights'' and ``we
demand rights for all Cubans,'' Ms. Fonseca; her husband, Julio
Ignacio Leon Perez; and her oldest son were violently beaten by
a large mob that was acting under the direction of state
security organs.
As a freedom fighter, Ms. Fonseca has been harassed,
arrested, detained, and beaten by the Castro regime and its
supporters, and she is a hero for all who support human rights,
and we welcome her.
And Jorge Luis Garcia Perez ``Antunez'' is a political
activist who has fought over 20 years for human rights and
democracy in Cuba. In 1990, ``Antunez'' was beaten and arrested
by agents of state security police for shouting in public that
Communism was ``an error'' and ``utopia'' and demanding that
Cuba adopt reforms like those taking place in Eastern Europe.
After being charged for ``oral enemy propaganda'' and
sentenced to 6 years in prison, ``Antunez'' started a hunger
strike that lasted 21 days. After serving 17 years in prison,
he was finally released in April 2007, and we welcome him as
well.
So we are going to go, obviously, through a process under
which our witnesses and our guests are going to be speaking in
Spanish and we will have an interpreter translate into English.
We are going to start off with Normando Hernandez.
I am going to have to ask you, as you go through your
presentation, to pause at times to give the interpreter an
opportunity to interpret so that the rest of the committee and
the transcript that is being developed will have its English
version. And while Senator Rubio and I may fully understand
what you are saying, we need for the rest of the committee, the
audience, and the members who have staff here to understand
what you are saying as well.
So it will take a little bit of time, but we look forward
to your testimony, and we thank you for your willingness to
come forward.
So, with that, Mr. Hernandez, we are going to start with
you.
If you can summarize your testimony in around 5 minutes or so,
we will be a little flexible here. We don't always get these
opportunities.
And then all of your testimony will be included in the
record. With that, Bienvenido y puedes empezar.
STATEMENT OF NORMANDO HERNANDEZ GONZALEZ, FELLOW, NATIONAL
ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, FORMER CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONER,
WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Hernandez. Honorable Chairman Robert Menendez,
Honorable Ranking Member Marco Rubio, and members of the
subcommittee, good morning.
Thank you very much for inviting me to testify. My name is
Normando Hernandez, and I am a journalist and an ex-political
prisoner from Cuba, member of the group of 75.
When I read the topic of this hearing, I did nothing but
rejoice. Events like this show the world that Cubans are not
alone on their long and difficult road to freedom.
To be against the repression in Cuba is to be against the
totalitarian regimes of the Castro brothers. It is to be in
favor of the true emerging Cuba civil society.
I am still learning English. So please allow me to continue
in Spanish.
Mr. Hernandez. Les digo, la emergente y verdadera sociedad
civil cubana, para distinguir de aquellas organizaciones del
gobierno cubano que se dicen llamar sociedad civil, cuando en
realidad son creadas y manipuladas por el gobierno. La sociedad
civil independiente en Cuba.
Interpreter. I would like to highlight the emergent and
growing civil society in Cuba as different from the so-called
civil society of the past, which was created and manipulated by
the government.
Mr. Hernandez. La Sociedad Civil Independiente en Cuba,
esta pon . . . Compuesta por grupos autoconstituidos de
ciudadanos, sin autorizacion del estado, para defender sus
intereses frente a este.
Interpreter. Independent civil society in Cuba is composed
of self-created citizen groups, established without
authorization from the government to defend their interests
before the state.
Mr. Hernandez. Esto incluye lo que se conoce hoy en dia
como disidencia, la oposicion pacifica, el movimiento de
Derechos Humanos, partidos politicos, blogueros y asociaciones
de profesionales e intelectuales.
Interpreter. This includes what is known today as the
dissidents, peaceful opposition, the human rights movement,
political parties, bloggers, and professional and intellectual
associations.
Mr. Hernandez. La semilla de esta sociedad, se sembro el 28
de enero de 1976, con el nombre de Comite Cubano Pro Derechos
Humanos, bajo la direccion del doctor Ricardo Bofill Pages y
otros intelectuales.
Interpreter. The seed of this civil society was planted on
January 28, 1976, with the name of the Cuban Committee for
Human Rights under the direction of Dr. Ricardo Bofill Pages
and a small group of intellectuals.
Mr. Hernandez. Desde su fundacion, el Comite Cubano Pro
Derechos Humanos, ha abogado por el respeto a los Derechos
Humanos en Cuba, y denunciado las flagrantes violaciones que
ocurren en la isla.
Interpreter. Since its creation, the Cuban Committee for
Human Rights has advocated for their respective human rights in
Cuba and has denounced the flagrant violations that occur on
the island.
Mr. Hernandez. La profunda crisis politica, economica y
social que provoco la caida del muro de Berlin en Cuba, llevo a
muchos otros cubanos a crear espacios civicos independientes
del estado, para expresar sus frustraciones y buscar soluciones
alternativas a sus problemas.
Interpreter. The profound political, economic, and social
crisis that the fall of the Berlin Wall created in Cuba led
many other Cubans to create independent civil spaces,
independent from the government, that is, in order to express
their frustrations and search for alternative solutions to
their problems.
Mr. Hernandez. Asi comenzaron a surgir cientos de grupos en
toda la isla, de diferentes corrientes profesionales, politicas
e ideologicas.
Interpreter. And thus, hundreds of groups of different
professional, political, and ideological streams began to
emerge across the island.
Mr. Hernandez. Para ofrecerles una idea del crecimiento de
la Sociedad Civil Cubana, en el 2003, el Instituto Cubano de
Economistas Independientes, contabilizo en un censo, a mas de
29,000 ciudadanos como miembros y simpatizantes de mas de 450
organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil Cubana.
Interpreter. To give you an idea of the growth of the Cuban
civil society, in 2003, the Institute of Independent Economists
of Cuba counted in a census more than 29,000 citizens as
members and supporters of more than 450 civil society
organizations.
Mr. Hernandez. Un ano antes, el Movimiento Cristiano
Liberacion, dio otra muestra de creciente pujanza de la
Sociedad Civil Cubana, al entregar a la Asamblea Nacional del
Poder Popular, una peticion ciudadana de referendum, sobre una
serie de derechos politicos, economicos, sociales amparados en
la Constitucion de la Republica de Cuba, y firmada por 11,020
ciudadanos.
Interpreter. One year before, the Christian Liberation
Movement gave another sign of the growing strength of the
dissidence in Cuba by presenting before the National Cuban
Assembly a petition signed by 11,020 citizens for a referendum
on a series of political, economic, and social rights.
Mr. Hernandez. Este surge creciente de la sociedad civil,
ha estado ocurriendo dentro de un marcado aumento de la
represion por parte de las autoridades gubernamentales.
Interpreter. This growth of Cuban civil society has
occurred under a significant increase of repression by
government authorities.
Mr. Hernandez. Quizas el caso emblematico de esta
represion, fue la primavera negra del 2003, en que 75
activistas y lideres de la sociedad civil--yo incluido--fuimos
apresados y condenados en juicios sumarisimos, a altas penas de
carcel.
Interpreter. Perhaps the one emblematic case of this
repression was the Black Spring of 2003, where 75 activists and
civil society leaders, myself included, were arrested and
convicted in summary trials and sentenced to lengthy and unjust
prison sentences.
Mr. Hernandez. Este obvio intento de eliminar de raiz el
movimiento civilista cubano e inocular el temor en la
poblacion, solo sirvio de abono, para que muchos otros
ciudadanos se unieran a los reclamos de libertad, como las
Damas de Blanco, y el Movimiento de Blogueros Independientes.
Interpreter. This crackdown obviously was intended to
eliminate the roots of the Cuban civilian movement and instill
fear in the population. But it only served as a call for many
other citizens to join in the search for freedom, such as just
the Ladies in White and the independent bloggers movement.
Mr. Hernandez. Hoy en dia, la Sociedad Civil Cubana, se
encuentra en una fase creciente de dinamismo y pluralismo. Cada
vez mas consciente de que los ciudadanos tienen derechos
inalienables, que el estado debe respetar.
Interpreter. Today, Cuban civil society finds itself in the
face of dynamic and pluralist growth, ever more conscious that
citizens have inalienable rights that the state must respect.
Mr. Hernandez. La represion a los activistas de la sociedad
civil, aumenta por dia.
Interpreter. Repression of civil society activists
increases every day.
Mr. Hernandez. El gobierno cubano, utiliza tacticas que
pueden ser calificadas como terrorismo de estado.
Interpreter. The Cuba Government uses tactics that can be
considered state terrorism.
Mr. Hernandez. Una nueva modalidad de represion, consiste
en detenciones arbitrarias sin ninguna orden judicial, por
breves periodos de tiempo, como un mecanismo de hostigamiento,
intimidacion, desestabilizacion psicologica del detenido y la
familia, para entre otros objetivos, evitar que los integrantes
de la sociedad civil, ejerzan derechos inalienables, como es el
de la libertad de expresion, de asociacion y de reunion.
Interpreter. A new model of repression consists of
arbitrary
detentions without a court order for small periods of time as
a mechanism of harassment, intimidation, psychological
destabilization of the detainees and their family members to
prevent them from exercising their inalienable rights to
freedom of expression, association, and assembly.
Mr. Hernandez. En los primeros 4 meses de este ano, la
Comision Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliacion Nacional,
una organizacion independiente de Derechos Humanos en Cuba,
documento 2795 detenciones arbitrarias, para un incremento del
58% comparado con igual periodo del tiempo del pasado ano,
cuando fueron 1166.
Interpreter. In the first 4 months of this year, the Cuban
Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation, an
independent human rights organization in Cuba, documented 2,795
arbitrary detentions, an increase of 58 percent from the same
period the year before, 1,166.
Mr. Hernandez. Una de las caras mas crudas de la represion,
son los mitines de repudios organizados por la fuerza represiva
de los hermanos Castro, contra las Damas de Blanco.
Interpreter. One of the cruelest faces of this repression
is the repudiation rallies organized by the repressive forces
of the Castro brothers against the Ladies in White.
Mr. Hernandez. Del mismo modo, brigada de respuestas
rapida, fuerzas paramilitares al servicio del gobierno, la
emprenden a golpes contra cualquier acto civico, independiente
y pacifico que organice la emergente y verdadera sociedad civil
cubana.
Interpreter. In the same way, rapid response brigades,
paramilitary forces that serve the government, physically beat
any independent, peaceful individual that tries to organize
civil society activities.
Mr. Hernandez. La impunidad de los represores, es un
incentivo en su actuar.
Interpreter. The impunity of the repressors is an incentive
for their actions.
Mr. Hernandez. Los hermanos Castro, no tienen limite en su
crueldad.
Interpreter. The Castro brothers do not have limits to
their cruelty.
Mr. Hernandez. Su naturaleza asesina, los llevo a fusilar a
miles de personas a inicios del triunfo de la revolucion.
Interpreter. Their murderous nature led them to execute
thousands of people at the beginning of the revolution.
Mr. Hernandez. Hoy, asesinan de forma sutil.
Interpreter. Today, they kill in a more subtle way.
Mr. Hernandez. No olvidemos la muerte en circunstancias muy
extranas, de la lider de las Damas de Blanco, Laura Pollan
Toledo, en octubre de 2011.
Interpreter. We must not forget the death under very
strange circumstances of the leader of the Ladies in White,
Laura Pollan Toledo, in October 2011.
Mr. Hernandez. Tampoco podemos olvidar las muertes en
huelgas de hambre, de los presos politicos Orlando Zapata
Tamayo, en febrero de 2010, a quien le negaron el agua por 18
dias. Y, Wilman Villar Mendoza, en enero de 2012, a quien
torturaron introduciendolo en una tapiada oscura, humeda y
pestilente celda de castigo.
Interpreter. Also we cannot forget the deaths on hunger
strike of political prisoners Orlando Zapata Tamayo in February
2010, who was denied water for 18 days, and Wilman Villar
Mendoza in January 2012, who was tortured by being placed in a
boarded up, dark, damp, and putrid cell.
Mr. Hernandez. Juan Wilfredo Soto, fue otro opositor
pacifico que murio 2 dias despues de que agentes de la Policia
Nacional Revolucionaria, le propinaran una salvaje pateadura,
en junio de 2011.
Interpreter. Juan Wilfredo Soto, a peaceful activist, died
2 days after the Revolutionary National Police agents brutally
beat him in June 2011.
Mr. Hernandez. En un reciente informe, el Comite Contra la
Tortura de las Naciones Unidas, critico las detenciones
arbitrarias, los actos de repudio, la falta de independencia
entre los Poderes Ejecutivo, Legislativo y Judicial. La falta
de informacion sobre muerte en custodia policial de Juan
Wilfredo Soto, y pidio una investigacion imparcial sobre las
muertes de 202 presos que fallecieron en las carceles cubanas,
entre 2010 y 2011.
Interpreter. In a recent report, the United Nations
Committee Against Torture criticized the arbitrary detentions,
the acts of repudiation, lack of independence between the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches; lack of
information on the death under police custody of Juan Wilfredo
Soto, and requested an impartial investigation of the deaths of
202 prisoners that occurred in Cuban jails between 2010 and
2011.
Mr. Hernandez. El exterminio contra quienes disienten o se
oponen a los Castro, es politica de estado.
Interpreter. Extermination against those who dissent and/or
oppose the Castros is the policy of the state.
Mr. Hernandez. El camino por el que transita la verdadera
Sociedad Civil Cubana, esta llena de obstaculos.
Interpreter. The path for a true Cuban civil society is
full of obstacles.
Mr. Hernandez. Las viola . . . Las violaciones a los
derechos fundamentales de las personas, estan
institucionalizadas en la Constitucion de la Republica de Cuba.
Interpreter. Violations of fundamental rights are enshrined
in the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba.
Mr. Hernandez. El Codigo Penal, tiene tipificaciones
juridicas tan ambiguas, como el delito de peligrosidad social
pre-delictiva, que permiten enjuiciar a todo ciudadano que el
gobierno considere que presenta una amenaza a su poder.
Interpreter. The penal code includes articles with
ambiguous provisions, such as precriminal, social, and
dangerous, which are used to prosecute civil society activists
deemed by the government as dangerous.
Mr. Hernandez. Amnistia Internacional estima que existen
alrededor de 5000 presos en las carceles de Cuba, extinguiendo
sancion entre 1 y 4 anos de privacion de libertad, por los
supuestos delitos de peligrosidad social, junto a personas con
delitos probados.
Interpreter. Amnesty International estimates that there are
around 5,000 prisoners in Cuba serving sentences between 1 and
4 years for allegedly being socially dangerous, and they serve
their sentences alongside individuals whose crimes have been
proven.
Mr. Hernandez. Tambien existe la Ley 88 o ley de Proteccion
de la Independencia Nacional y la Economia de Cuba. Otra
aberracion juridica, destinada a cercenar los derechos
fundamentales e inalienables de los ciudadanos cubanos. Esta
ley, es conocida a nivel nacional e internacional, como Ley
Mordaza.
Interpreter. In addition, Law 88, the law for the
Protection of the National Independence and Economy of Cuba, is
another legal aberration by which the government curtails the
fundamental and inalienable rights of Cuban citizens. This law
is nationally and internationally known as the Censorship Law.
Mr. Hernandez. Espero que se den cuenta, que este
ordenamiento juridico, liberticida por naturaleza, guillotina
los derechos civiles, politicos, economicos, sociales y
culturales de los cubanos.
Interpreter. I hope you realize that this legal framework
is
tyrannical by nature, and it slashes away the civil,
political, economic, social, and cultural rights of the Cuban
people.
Mr. Hernandez. Podemos ser ironicos y decir que en Cuba no
se violan los Derechos Humanos, simplemente, porque no existen.
Interpreter. We can be ironic and say that in Cuba, the
government does not violate human rights simply because human
rights do not exist.
Mr. Hernandez. El regimen de los hermanos Castro, niega a
los cubanos el derecho a los derechos.
Interpreter. The regime of the Castro brothers denies
Cubans their right to rights.
Mr. Hernandez. A pesar de esto, la Sociedad Civil Cubana,
aboga por los derechos de los cubanos, de forma pacifica,
tomando como ejemplo, la doctrina de la lucha no violenta,
promovida por Ghandi y el doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
Interpreter. In spite of this, Cuban civil society
advocates for the freedom of all Cubans in a peaceful way,
based on the precepts of nonviolent struggle practice by Gandhi
and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mr. Hernandez. Desde la sociedad civil, emergen cada vez
mas propuestas para mejorar la calidad de vida de los cubanos,
que van desde la busqueda de soluciones a problemas sociales
concretos, hasta las amplias exigencias publicas al gobierno
que respete los Derechos Humanos y los valores democraticos.
Interpreter. From civil society, we see an increasing
number of proposals aimed at improving the quality of life of
all Cubans, from concrete social demands to broad public
demands for the government to respect human rights and
democratic values.
Mr. Hernandez. En su lucha por la democracia, la Sociedad
Civil Cubana, siempre ha planteado la reconciliacion entre
todos los cubanos y el dialogo basado en el respeto a todos los
Derechos Humanos, civiles y politicos, como procesos necesarios
para lograr una Cuba verdaderamente democratica.
Interpreter. In their fight for democracy, Cuban civil
society has always advocated for national reconciliation and
dialogue based on their respect of all human, civil, and
political rights as a necessary process to achieve a truly
democratic Cuba.
Mr. Hernandez. Para concluir, pido respetuosamente a este
comite, que lleve a la practica el titulo de esta audiencia.
Interpreter. To conclude, I would respectfully ask this
committee to put into practice the title of this hearing.
Mr. Hernandez. Que se solidarice con la emergente y
verdadera Sociedad Civil Cubana y condene a todos los niveles
la reprisi . . . La represion existente en Cuba.
Interpreter. Please, show solidarity with the growing and
genuine Cuban civil society and condemn all levels of
repressions that take place in Cuba.
Mr. Hernandez. Que aune voluntades con gobiernos y
parlamentarios democraticos de todo el mundo, instituciones
multilaterales y organizaciones no gubernamentales
internacionales, para que apoyen a la verdadera Sociedad Civil
Cubana.
Interpreter. I encourage you to seek other democratic
governments and parliamentarians from around the world,
multilateral institutions, and international NGOs to support
the true Cuba.
Mr. Hernandez. En este sentido, les ruego tomen en cuenta
las palabras de Elie Wiesel, Premio Nobel de la Paz y
sobreviviente del Holocausto, cuando dijo: ``Hay que tomar
partido. La neutralidad ayuda al opresor, nunca a la victima.
La accion es el unico remedio contra la indiferencia.''
Interpreter. In this sense, please take into account the
words of Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust
survivor, when he said, ``We must always take sides. Neutrality
helps the oppressor, never the victim. Action is the only
remedy to indifference.''
Mr. Hernandez. Muchas gracias.
Interpreter. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Gonzalez follows:]
Prepared Statement Normando Hernandez Gonzalez
Honorable Chairman Robert Menendez, Honorable Ranking Member Marco
Rubio, and members of the subcommittee, when I read the topic of this
hearing, I did nothing but rejoice. Events like this show the world
that Cubans are not alone on their long and difficult road to freedom.
To be against the repression that exists in Cuba is to be against the
totalitarian regime of the Castro brothers. It is to be in favor of the
true, emerging Cuban civil society.
I use the terms true and emerging Cuban civil society to
distinguish from those organizations that call themselves civil
society, when in reality they are created and manipulated by the Cuban
Government. Independent civil society in Cuba is composed of self-
created citizen groups--established without authorization from the
government--to defend their interests before the state. This includes
what is known today as the dissidence, the peaceful opposition, the
human rights movement, independent political parties, bloggers, and
professional and intellectual associations.
The seed of organized civil society was planted on January 28,
1976, with the creation of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights
(CCPDH), under the direction of Dr. Ricardo Bofill Pages and a small
group of intellectuals. Since its foundation, the CCPDH has advocated
for the respect of human rights in Cuba and denounced the flagrant
violations that occur on the island.
The profound political, economic, and social crisis that the fall
of the Berlin wall provoked in Cuba led many other Cubans to create
independent civic spaces in order to express their frustrations and
search for alternative solutions to their problems. Thus, hundreds of
groups of different professional, political, and ideological streams
began to emerge across the island. To give you an idea of the growth of
the Cuban civil society, in 2003, the Institute of Independent
Economists of Cuba counted in a census more than 29,000 citizens as
members and supporters of more than 450 independent, nongovernmental
organizations. One year before, the Christian Liberation Movement gave
another sign of the growing strength of the dissidence in Cuba by
presenting before the Cuban National Assembly a petition signed by
11,020 citizens for a referendum on a series of political, economic,
and social rights.
The growth of Cuban civil society has occurred under a marked
increase of repression by government authorities. Perhaps one
emblematic case of this repression was the ``Black Spring'' of 2003, in
which 75 activists and civil society leaders, myself included, were
convicted in summary trials and sentenced to lengthy, unjust prison
sentences. This crackdown obviously was intended to eliminate the roots
to the Cuban civilian movement and instill fear in the population.
However, it only served as a call for many other citizens to join in
the search for of freedom, such as the Ladies in White and the
independent bloggers movement. Today, Cuban civil society finds itself
in a phase of dynamic and pluralist growth, ever more conscious that
citizens have inalienable rights that the state must respect.
Repression of civil society activists increases every day. The
Cuban Government, using tactics that can be considered state terrorism,
has created a new model of repression that consists of arbitrary
detentions, without any judicial order, for small periods of time as a
mechanism of harassment, intimidation, psychological destabilization of
activists and their family members to prevent them from exercising
their inalienable rights to freedom of expression, association, and
assembly.
In the first 4 months of this year, the Cuban Commission of Human
Rights and National Reconciliation, an independent human rights
organization in Cuba, documented 2,795 arbitrary detentions, an
increase of 140 percent from the 1,166 cases of documented arrests that
took place during the same period of time last year. One of the
cruelest faces of this repression is the repudiation rallies organized
by the repressive forces of the Castro brothers against the Ladies in
White. In the same way, the Rapid Response Brigades, paramilitary
forces that serve the government, physically beat any independent,
peaceful individual that tries to organize civil society activities.
The impunity of the repressors is an incentive for their actions.
The Castro brothers do not have limits in their cruelty. Their
murderous nature led them to execute thousands of people at the
beginning of the revolution. Today, they kill in a more subtle form. We
must not forget the death in very strange circumstances the leader of
the Ladies in White, Laura Pollan Toledo, in October 2011. Also, we
cannot forget the deaths on hunger strike of political prisoners,
Orlando Zapata Tamayo in February 2010, who was denied water for 18
days, and Wilman Villar Mendoza in January 2012, who was tortured by
being placed in a boarded up, dark, damp, and putrid cell. Also, in May
2011, peaceful activist, Juan Wilfredo Soto, died 2 days after the
Revolutionary National Police agents savagely beat him. In a recent
report, the United Nations Committee Against Torture criticized the
arbitrary detentions, acts of repudiation, lack of independence between
the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, lack of information
on the death in police custody of Juan Wilfredo Soto, and requested an
impartial investigation on the deaths of 202 prisoners that occurred
between 2010 and 2011. Extermination against those who dissent and/or
oppose the Castros is the policy of the State.
The path for a true Cuban civil society is full of obstacles. The
violations of fundamental rights are institutionalized in the
Constitution of the Republic of Cuba. The Penal Code includes articles
with ambiguous provisions such as ``precriminal social dangerousness,''
which are used to prosecute civil society activists. Amnesty
International estimates that there are around 5,000 prisoners in Cuba
serving sentences between 1 and 4 years for allegedly being socially
dangerous and they serve their sentences alongside individuals whose
crimes have been proven. In addition, Law 88, the Law for the
Protection of the National Independence and Economy of Cuba, is another
judicial aberration by which the government curtails the fundamental
and inalienable rights of Cuban citizens. This law is nationally and
international known as the Censorship Law. I hope you realize that this
legal framework is tyrannical by nature and guillotines the civil,
political, economic, social, and cultural rights of the Cuban people.
We can be ironic and say that in Cuba, the government does not violate
human rights simply because human rights do not exist. The regime of
the Castro brothers denies Cubans their right to rights.
In spite of the conditions I just described to you, Cuban civil
society fervently advocates for the freedom of all Cubans in a peaceful
way, based on the precepts of nonviolent struggle practiced by Mahatma
Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. From civil society emerge ever
more proposals that aim to improve the quality of life of all Cubans,
from concrete social demands to broad public demands to respect human
rights and democratic values. In their actions, Cuban civil society has
always advocated for national reconciliation and dialogue based on the
respect to all human, civil, and political rights as a necessary
processes to achieve a truly democratic Cuba.
To conclude, I respectfully ask this committee to put into practice
the title of this hearing. Please, show solidarity with the growing and
genuine Cuban civil society, and condemn all levels of repression that
take place in Cuba. I also ask you to encourage other democratic
governments and parliamentarians from around the world, multilateral
institutions, and international NGOs to support Cuba's civil society
activists. In this sense, please take into account the words of Elie
Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor when he said:
``We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the
victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented . . .
action is the only remedy to indifference, the most insidious danger of
all.''
Thank you.
Senator Menendez. Thank you very much.
We appreciate your testimony, and keep up with your
English. It was going pretty good there at the beginning.
So let me now welcome from the U.S. Interests Section in
Havana, Sara Marta Fonseca Quevedo. She is the spokesperson for
the National Civic Resistance Front, a Cuba prodemocracy
leader.
We will hear from her first, and then we will hear from
Jorge Luis Garcia Perez ``Antunez,'' who, as I said earlier,
has been a political activist inside of Cuba and served a long
time in Castro's jails.
So with Sara going first, we will need to do the same
thing. We will need to translate what you say so we will have
to ask you to stop in certain blocks of time.
Bienvenido.
[Pause.]
Senator Menendez. This is Senator Menendez. We see you, and
we hear you. So we will ask Sara Marta Fonseca Quevedo to start
first.
Ms. Fonseca. Le voy a decir--si. Bueno, buenos dias--buenas
tardes.--Cuba. Que Dios les bendiga y quisiera decirles que
tenemos a Jose Daniel Ferrer en, en, en linea. Debemos
aprovechar esta oportunidad. No, no vaya a ser que, que
interrumpan la comunicacion para que el les hable primeramente.
Senator Menendez. OK.
Interpreter. Good morning. Good afternoon, actually
already.
I wanted to bring to your attention that we have Jose
Daniel Ferrer on the line, and I think we need to take this
opportunity right now just in case the communication gets cut
off.
Senator Menendez. All right. So we would be happy to then
go to Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, who is the leader of the Cuba
Patriotic Union from Santiago de Cuba.
Mr. Ferrer Garcia, please?
Mr. Ferrer. Si, oalo? Hello?
Senator Menendez. Si, senor, ga . . . Ferrer Garcia, puede
ir adelante. Es el senador Melendez.
STATEMENT OF JOSE DANIEL FERRER GARCIA, LEADER, CUBA PATRIOTIC
UNION, SANTIAGO DE CUBA, CUBA
Mr. Ferrer. Si, senador, ocomo esta? Buenas tardes para
todos. Buenas tardes al senor Michael Rubio tambien y a los
demas ahi presentes. Un fuerte y fraterno abrazo, ono? De
decenas de opositores pacificos aca en el oriente del pais.
Interpreter. The interpreter would like to say that the
sound quality is very poor. So I am doing my best.
Good afternoon to all of you, and warmest greetings from
all of us peaceful activists in the eastern part of the
country.
Senator Menendez. Adelante.
Interpreter. Go ahead.
Mr. Ferrer. Si, ome escuchan?
Senator Menendez. Si.
Mr. Ferrer. Yo me pierdo un poco--pierdo un poco su voz. Me
parece que hay problemas con la comunicacion. Pues nada, desde
aca, desde el oriente--le reitero un abrazo fraterno. Nosotros
por aca, la Union Patriotica de Cuba y Bonilla, a otros grupos
opositores que luchan con muchisima energia, con muchisima
firmeza, con muchisimo valor, por los cambios que tanto Cuba
necesita. Y, les saludamos y les recordamos de que explicar el
no, para el pueblo cubano, la solidaridad y el apoyo del mundo
libre, no solamente el apoyo de la solidaridad de la comunidad
cubana exiliada, si no tambien de la, de las personas, de los
lideres del mundo libre, que desean que se solidaricen con el
sufrido pueblo cubano. Durante los ultimos meses, el reto
principal de nuestra organizacoion y de la oposicion en
general, ha sido enfrentar la fuerte represion, el acoso
constante de los organos represivos, detenciones constantes de
mayor o menor duracion. El hecho tambien de que en un
trasnocho--siendo encarcelado arbitrariamente. Ya la Union
Patriotica de Cuba tiene 6 presos politicos en las carceles del
oriente del pais. Ahora tenemos otro clica en Cuba, hay 2 que
estamos por confirmar, que tambien . . .
Senator Menendez. He has a lot to say, obviously.
Interpreter. He does. Well, again, I think have we have an
audio problem, but I was saying I would like to give you our
warmest greetings here from all the activists and other groups
that oppose the government that are so firmly and courageously
fighting for this change that we very much need.
And we would like to remind you all that it is vital for
the Cuban people to have the support and solidarity from the
free world, not only from our brothers and sisters in the
United States, but from all over the world because the Cuban
people is suffering a lot. We are facing a lot of challenges,
and mostly the mounting repression by the government and the
never-ending arrests.
We have tons of activists that have been jailed arbitrarily
and are considered now political prisoners. And actually, today
we have fresh news a new activist has been jailed for 8 years.
Senator Menendez. All right. If you can ask him to please
go slowly and stop at certain intervals so we can get his
translation?
Interpreter. Que, que procedas en esto y, y hagas pausas
para que puedan traducir.
Mr. Ferrer. Si, de acuerdo. De acuerdo. Entendido. Le decia
que el principal reto ha sido enfrentar la represion, ono? De
el regimen castrista. Precisamente porque nuestra agrupacion
pretende maxificar y dinamizar la lucha no violenta a lo largo
y ancho del pais, en unidad con otros grupos pacificos, con
otros grupos de oposicion no violenta.
Interpreter. I was saying that our biggest challenge is to
face the repression by the Castro government, and our group is
trying to make massive mobilization of nonviolent struggles all
over the country, nonviolent fight.
Mr. Ferrer. Para poder contrarrestar la represion, ono? De
los organos de la policia politica y demas cuerpos represivos
del regimen castrista, se necesita, ono? De efectiva propaganda
y de efectivos medios de comunicacion, es decir, en manos de
los opositores, en manos de nuestros activistas. Radio Marti
era un importantisimo papel en este proceso no democratizador
que llevamos adelante en nuestra isla. Y, necesitamos del apoyo
del mundo libre, para poder burlar y para poder salir del
aislamiento, ono? Y, hacia la Internet y hacia otros medios,
otras vias de comunicacion que el regimen nos impone.
Interpreter. All this to counteract the violent repression
by the regime. We need to send our message out. We need our
activists to have access to the media so that we can try to get
the message out about the importance of this democratic process
that is just now starting.
We want help from the free world to get out of the
oppression, have access to the Internet, and some other media
out there.
Senator Menendez. Can you--the gentleman also mentioned.
Esperese un momentico, por favor.
Mr. Ferrer. Son la mayoria de costumbres a decir que--si,
claro. Si.
Interpreter. Un momento.
Senator Menendez. Yes, I understood that he said that Radio
Marti was very important to free information inside of Cuba. I
don't know if you heard that?
Interpreter. I may have missed that. Sorry.
Senator Menendez. OK. Let the record reflect that in Mr.
Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia's comment, he spoke about Radio Marti
as an indispensable tool in the flow of information inside for
the Cuban people.
OK.
Mr. Ferrer. Si. Le decia para que por aca las personas
mayores acostumbran a mencionar un refran que dice de que el
frio se quita andando. Nosotros creemos que el temor del pueblo
cubano, el miedo fruto del terror de muchas decadas, ono? De
represion, se quita actuando. Por eso, estamos enfrascados,
ono? En que vamos a hacerle de actividades lo mas creativas, lo
mas variadas posibles se filmen, se tomen imagenes
audiovisuales, y luego se pasen de mano en mano, entre toda la
poblacion, para que precisamente el pueblo vea que si se puede
luchar por los derechos y libertades que nos vienen--hace mas
de medio siglo.
Interpreter. There is an old saying that people, especially
older people like to say, and that is that when you are cold,
you get warm by walking. And I would like to say that when you
are in fear, you get away with your fear by acting.
And we need to find creative ways to send our message out,
like have audiovisual images that can be disseminated to the
population to show them that, yes, we can. We can fight for the
freedoms and the liberties that have been taken away from us
for over half a century.
Mr. Ferrer. Para lograr esto y--se requiere, ono? De medios
materiales. Por ejemplo, los soportes digitales, discos de DVD
e . . . estan siendo el medio, ono? Mas utilizado por nosotros.
Los resultados los notamos de dia en dia, de semana en semana.
Zonas donde para nada se movia, la poblacion para nada--habian
exigencia en cuanto a cambio al respeto de lo Derechos Humanos,
en la medida en que ven que en otros sitios vecinos se esta
haciendo, se esta luchando por la libertad y el cambio.
Entonces, comienzan a moverse las cosas y comienzan las
acciones y comienzan las actividades, las protestas, y esto se
va generalizando. Pero, necesitamos ver el apoyo del mundo
libre para poder romper con el monopolio informativo del
regimen, para que esto llegue de manera masiva a todas partes.
Porque, Radio Marti es el medio mas efectivo, como dije
anteriormente, para llegar al pueblo cubano. Pero, en las
grandes ciudades sufre muchisima interferencia. Entonces,
reproducir programaciones de TV Marti y Radio Marti, nuestras
imagenes, nuestros videos, nuestras informaciones, es vital
para que llegue a la poblacion. Con eso se va quitando el temor
y la poblacion va reaccionando. El pueblo cubano en su mayoria,
desea y quiere cambio. Lo notamos diariamente en las calles de
Cuba.
Interpreter. We need material support. We need information
media, more specifically DVD. We can see the change day by day
by using them.
For example, in areas where there was no activity, no
thirst for changes or anything, when they see that other areas
are changing, are doing things, they start getting motivated
and organizing more activities and more protests. And that is
why, again, I am saying we need help from the free world to
break this informational monopoly. We need our information to
get everywhere.
More specifically, DVDs because there is a lot of
interference of the actual media. So if we can burn DVDs with
our videos, our information, our clips, we can disseminate it
to the rest of the population, and their fear will start going
away, and they will start reacting because the Cuban people
does want to change. We feel that on a daily basis out there on
the streets.
Senator Menendez. I want to ask Mr. Daniel Ferrer Garcia to
summarize so that we can turn to his colleagues. I don't want
to lose our video feed from Havana.
Interpreter. Que si, que p . . . Que con--digamos, un . . .
una palabra para concluir, para entonces pasar con.
Mr. Ferrer. Si, como no. Como no. Si. Nada, que la realidad
es que la poblacion cubana, cada vez esta mas descontenta, cada
vez mas cubanos desean el cambio. Cada vez mas cubanos pierden
el miedo, y que en la medida de que la fuerzas democraticas
internas, las fuerzas democraticas del exilio, y la--los
democratas del mundo libre trabajemos, aunemos esfuerzos, la re
. . . La libertad del cambio en Cuba sera una realidad mas
pronto de lo que muchos creen.
Interpreter. Basically, the Cuban people is not happy
anymore. They do want change. Their fear is going away. We want
help from the people that are in exile in democratic countries,
and we need democratic countries as well to join our efforts
because Cuba will be a free country before we know it.
Senator Menendez. Thank you very much.
Let me turn to Sara Marta Fonseca Quevedo.
STATEMENT OF SARA MARTA FONSECA QUEVEDO, SPOKESPERSON, NATIONAL
CIVIC RESISTANCE FRONT, CUBAN PRO-DEMOCRACY LEADER, HAVANA,
CUBA
Ms. Fonseca. Si, bueno, reitero. Hola, buenas tardes y, y
nuestro agradecimiento por este importante contacto que se ha
establecido. Muchas gracias por este contacto. Bueno, soy
miembro del Partido Pro Derechos Humanos de Cuba, afiliado a la
Fundacion Andres Sajaro.
Interpreter. Good afternoon, everybody, and thanks again
for being in contact with us. We really appreciate it. I am
from the human rights group in Cuba.
Ms. Fonseca. Vocera del Frente Nacional de Resistencia
Civica y Desobediencia Civil Orlando Zapata, Dama de Blanco y
tambien del Movimiento Feminista Rosa Park.
Interpreter. The interpreter would request repetition. It
is the names of all the groups that she belongs with.
Senator Menendez. Yes. Can you ask her to repeat and to go
as slowly as possible since we have transmission challenges
here?
Interpreter. Si puede, despacio que repitas, porque parece
que no se.
Ms. Fonseca. Si, le decia que tambien soy vocera del Frente
Nacional de Resistencia Civica y Desobediencia Civil Orlando
Zapata. Dama de Blanco y del Movimiento Feminista por los
Derechos Civiles Rosa Park.
Interpreter. I was saying I am a member of the National
Front for Civilian Disobedience Group, Orlando Zapata, the
Ladies in White, and the Feminist Movement for Civil Rights,
Rosa Parks.
Ms. Fonseca. Por nuestra actividad, por nuestro activismo
en, en las calles, hemos sido victimas de numerosas
represiones. La policia politica, pues, nos ha reprimido en
muchas ocasiones, hasta llegar a, a atacar alto--haciendo ac .
. . actos de terrorismo de estado, en nuestras propia vivienda.
Interpreter. Because of the activist activities that we
carry out on our streets, we have been victims of several
repressions, mostly by the political police who have even
committed acts of state terrorism in our own homes.
Ms. Fonseca. Todo por alzar nuestras voces reclamando el
respeto a los Derechos Humanos, democracia y libertad para el
pueblo de Cuba.
Interpreter. All of this just because we voiced our wish to
have our human rights respected, we want democracy, and we want
the freedom of the Cuban people.
Ms. Fonseca. Hemos sido reprimidos, pero, tambien hemos
recibido la aceptacion del pueblo cubano.
Interpreter. We have been repressed, but we have also
received the acceptance of the Cuban people.
Ms. Fonseca. Y, esa satisfaccion, nos mueve a continuar
nuestra lucha, por instaurar una, una verdadera democracia en
Cuba.
Interpreter. And that satisfaction motivates us to continue
our fight to get a truly democratic Cuba.
Ms. Fonseca. Es muy bueno cuando el pueblo o las personas
de, del pueblo se nos acercan, para apoyarnos.
Interpreter. It is very good when we see people from other
towns and cities come to us to support us.
Ms. Fonseca. Nos hace sentir que nuestra lucha esta
cumpliendo su objetivo y que los cambios ya son inevitables,
que muy pronto nuestra patria volvera a sonreir a la democracia
y a, a la libertad.
Interpreter. It makes us feel that our fight is finally
reaching its objective that change is near and that very soon
our Cuba will be a democratic and free country.
Ms. Fonseca. Para nosotros es muy importante cualquier tipo
de apoyo, sea con la informacion difundible. Lo que sucede en,
en, en la, en la oposicion, difundirlo tanto nacionalmente como
internacionalmente.
Interpreter. For us, it is very important to have support,
mostly in terms of disseminating information both domestically
and internationally.
Ms. Fonseca. Son muchos los miembros del Partido Comunista
de Cuba que han entregado su carne despues de ver como
opositores somos reprimidos, simplemente por defender la
democracia.
Interpreter. Several members of the Cuban Communist Party
have turned in their ID cards when they have seen how we have
been oppressed just by expressing a different opinion.
Ms. Fonseca. Nuestro, nuestro objetivo, lo vemos cada vez
mas cerca. Ya no es el mismo pueblo que permanecia en el
silencio. Cada vez son mas las personas que se nos unen, mas
las personas que nos apoyan.
Interpreter. Our objective is drawing near. We are no
longer the people that remain silent, and we have more people
joining us and supporting us.
Ms. Fonseca. Quisiera, me disculpen cualquier--no, no
vinimos preparados. No se. Ni siquiera sabiamos para que
veniamos. Fue una medida de precaucion que no nos avisaran por
telefono.
Interpreter. I am sorry I didn't have anything scripted. We
were not ready. As a precaution, we were not told over the
phone what we would be talking about.
Ms. Fonseca. Nuestro hermano Jorge Luis Garcia Perez
Antunez, ha tenido que caminar kilometros para poder--y,
brincar cercas para poder llegar hasta aqui, burlando la
policia politica.
Interpreter. My colleague here, Jorge Luis Perez Antunez,
had to walk kilometers to get here just so the political police
wouldn't catch him.
Ms. Fonseca. Y, yo me encuentro convaleciente de unos dias
que estuve enferma, pero, siempre pendiente a todas las
actividades que realizan nuestras organizaciones.
Interpreter. And I am getting better. I was sick for a few
days, but I am always up to speed on what everybody else is
doing.
Senator Menendez. We appreciate your testimony. We will go
through it a little bit more when we ask questions. But let me
turn to Mr. Antunez.
STATEMENT OF JORGE LUIS GARCIA PEREZ ANTUNEZ, POLITICAL
DISSIDENT, HAVANA, CUBA
Mr. Perez. oYa? Muy buenas tardes, senora Robertson,
secretaria adjunta al Departamento de Estado. Muy buenas tardes
a los senadores Marco y al resto de los, de los senadores ahi
presentes.
Interpreter. Good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon,
Mrs. Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State, Senator Menendez,
and everybody else present there.
Mr. Perez. Un abrazo muy especial a mi querido hermano
Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, quien se encuentra ahi.
Interpreter. Very special greetings to my friend Normando
Hernandez Gonzalez, who is there with you.
Mr. Perez. Pa mi constituye un, un jubilo y un aliento, y
una emocion, que sea precisamente Normando Hernandez Gonzalez,
alguien que comparti--con, con el que comparti prision
politica, con el sufrimos el efecto de golpes, la celda de
castigo, el hambre.
Interpreter. It makes me very proud and excited to see
Normando Hernandez Gonzalez there today because we shared a
political prison. We both suffered beatings, oppression, and
hunger.
Mr. Perez. Creo que nadie mejor que el, que es el fundador
de, de reporteros y periodistas dentro de la propia prision, es
el patriota inclaudicable.
Interpreter. He is like the best example of our homeland
because he is a self-taught journalist that used to
disseminate information in the prison. Es, oque? Perdon. oEl
patriota?
Mr. Perez. Que tanto sufrio con dignidad y con decoro, los
embates del presidio politico, puede representarnos alli como
el.
Interpreter. And I am very proud to see him represent us
there today because he suffered all the oppression with a lot
of dignity and decorum.
Mr. Perez. Una de las cosas importantes que decia mi
querida hermana Sara Marta Fonseca Quevedo, quien tengo aqui a
mi lado, es que precisamente tanto ella como yo, nos enteramos
de, de esta--o sea, de este evento, precisamente en este lugar.
Y, creo que eso es una prueba fehaciente del nivel de represion
en Cuba.
Interpreter. Something very important that my colleague
Sara Marta Fonseca just said was that we found out about this
event with very short notice, and I think that shows the degree
of oppression that we are under.
Mr. Perez. Y, que mas prueba que del nivel de represion,
que tener que venir del centro del pais, de la provincia
central y brincando cercas, golpeando como si fuera un
delincuente, para participar en un evento, que en cualquier
parte del mundo, en un pais democratico, algo tan normal.
Interpreter. And that speaks volumes of the repression that
we feel. I had to, like she said, walk kilometers, hide behind
trees and bushes as if I was some kind of criminal to attend an
event that in any other free and democratic country in the
world would be an everyday thing.
Mr. Perez. Pero, gracias a Dios y gracias a esta seccion de
interes, que tanto nos ha apoyado, estamos aqui de manera
dificil, porque hemos pasado muchas dificultades, pero, estamos
aqui, y estamos participando.
Interpreter. But thank God and thanks to the Interests
Section for all the support given to us, we are here. It has
been hard, but we are here, and we are involved.
Mr. Perez. Quiero que conozcan que hace apenas unos dias,
producto a la represion brutal de un descomunal acto de
repudio.
Interpreter. I wanted you to know that a few days ago, as a
result of brutal repression to an act of repudiation----
Mr. Perez. Fui testigo de la muerte de Antonia Rodriguez,
en la Ciudad de Santa Clara.
Interpreter [continuing]. I witnessed the death of Antonio
Ruiz in the city of Santa Clara----
Mr. Perez. Donde un grupo de pacificos, activistas pro
democraticos nos reuniamos.
Interpreter [continuing]. Where a group of pro-democratic,
peaceful activists, myself included, were gathered----
Mr. Perez. Para hablar de libertad, para hablar de justicia
y de Derechos Humanos.
Interpreter [continuing]. To talk about liberty, freedom,
justice, and human rights.
Mr. Perez. Pero, no solo eso, senores senadores. En estos
precisos momentos, una joven cubana negra, lleva varios dias en
huelga de hambre en Santa Clara.
Interpreter. But that is not all, Mr. Senator. At this very
moment, there is a black Cuban woman that has been on a hunger
strike for several days in Santa Clara.
Mr. Perez. Y, escuchenos bien, esta en huelga de hambre,
Damaris Moya Portieles, en protesta, porque altos oficiales de
la policia politica le amenazaron con violarles sexualmente a
su hija de 6 anos de edad.
Interpreter. And hear me out here, Damaris Moya Portieles
is on a hunger strike because the political police threatened
to sexually abuse and rape her 6-year-old daughter.
Mr. Perez. Y, no estamos hablando de la Cuba del ano 50--
antes del ano 1959, ni estamos hablando de un pais de America
Latina, ni estamos hablando de la Sudafrica de pies-bota.
Estamos hablando de la Cuba del, del siglo XXI.
Interpreter. And we are not talking about the Cuba from
before 1959, of any other country in Latin America or any other
remote area in Africa. We are talking about the Cuba of the
21st century.
Mr. Perez. Y, cuando suceden cosas como esta, como el
asesinato de Orlando Zapata Tamayo, de Wilman Villar Mendoza,
de Pedro Ruiz Boitel.
Interpreter. I am sorry. I can't hear what he was saying.
[Pause.]
Mr. Perez. Este, cuando suceden crimenes tan horrendos como
el de Orlando Zapata Tamayo, como el Wilman Villar Mendoza,
como el de Pedro Ruiz Boitel, y como el de la abuelita Antonia.
Interpreter. When horrible killings happen, such as the one
of Mr. Zapata Tamayo, Wilman Villar Mendoza, Pedro Luis Boitel,
and Abuela, which is Grandmother Antonia----
Mr. Perez. Antonia. Cuando suceden estas cosas, tenemos que
estar conscientes que ni con aumento de remesas, ni con aumento
de billares, ni con el aumento de los intercambios culturales
de artistas que solo promueven el regimen de Castro.
Interpreter. And we will need to bear in mind that no
increase in remittances, no increase in the number of trips, no
increase in the cultural exchanges----
Mr. Perez. De intercambios culturales. Puede acelerarse el
proceso de democratizacion de nuestra patria
Interpreter. Por el aumento, ode que? Remesas. Ah, remesas.
Si. Can speed up the democratization process in our country.
Mr. Perez. El acercamiento, las politicas de acercamiento
con la dictadura, como algunos le llaman al gobierno de la
Habana, lo que hacen es fortalecer el aparato represivo y
proteger la impunidad a los agresores de esta violacion.
Interpreter. What this dictatorship regime does is to
strengthen the repression and to grant impunity to the people
that commit these acts of repression.
Senator Menendez. Let the record reflect that what he said
was that those policies, the policies that he just described
before, of remittances, of travel, of acceptance only creates
an impunity for the regime and allows them to continue their
oppressive actions.
Mr. Perez. oYa? Uh-huh. Ha quedado demostrado y ahi esta un
cubano que hace poco salio de la isla, Normando Hernandez
Gonzalez, aqui a mi lado tengo a Sara Marta Fonseca Quevedo, de
que ha quedado demostrado, que los--el acercamiento, o sea, el
aumento de, de viajes de--tanto de norteamericanos, de cubanos
a la isla, en nada ha ayudado al proceso democratizador de
nuestra patria. Esas personas, lamentablemente vienen a Cuba en
cuestiones ajenas a nuestro quehacer.
Interpreter. It has been proven that--and for this I have
my witnesses here, the Cuban that recently left the island, Mr.
Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, and my colleague here, Sara Marta
Fonseca Quevedo, that this increase in trips both from North
America and Cubans themselves have not helped at all with the
democratic process in our country because they come to our
country on matters that have nothing to do with what we are
doing.
Mr. Perez. Aclaro, que respeto el, el gobierno del senor
Barack Obama y considero de aunque--de, de que--lo todo lo que
hace, lo hace con las mejores de las intenciones. Porque es un
gobierno aliado, tanto el Partido Democrata como el
Republicano, son partidos aliados a la causa elemental.
Interpreter. I would like to clarify that I fully respect
President Barack Obama's administration, and I know that
everything that they are doing is with their best intentions.
And both the Democratic and the Republican Parties are allied
to our cause.
Mr. Perez. Pero, senores senadores, en los momentos en que
la oposicion aumenta, tanto en el orden cualitativo, como el
cuantitativo.
Interpreter. But, Mr. Senators, when the opposition is
increasing both in qualitative as well as in quantitative
terms----
Mr. Perez. En momentos en que se acrecientan las acciones
de protestas publicas, a lo largo y ancho del pais.
Interpreter [continuing]. When there is an increase in the
number of protests all over the country----
Mr. Perez. Son estos y no otros, los momentos de apoyar, de
sentar el apoyo a las fuerzas de la resistencia.
Interpreter [continuing]. This is the time and these are
the opportunities to support the resistance forces.
Mr. Perez. A las fuerzas de la resistencia, puesto que la
fuerza de la resistencia cubana, estan en una batalla frontal
en las calles, por la libertad, sufriendo golpizas, maltratos,
asedios a nuestra--a las viviendas, torturas, y todas las
formas de violaciones sistematicas a los Derechos Humanos.
Interpreter. This is because the Cuban resistance forces
are embarked on a battle with the state. We suffer beatings. We
suffer undue treatment, harassment even in our homes, torture,
and all kinds of violation of our human rights.
Mr. Perez. E--el apostol de la independencia de Cuba dijo
una frase, antes de concluir, porque yo no quiero extenderme,
porque ya creo que la intervencion de los hermanos que han
hablado antes que mi, ha sido bastante, suficiente, con precio
y elemento. Pero, el apostol de la independencia de Cuba, Jose
Marti dijo una frase--es muy importante--y, es que dijo que la
liber . . . La verdad es para decirla, no para andar oculta.
Por lo que considero, que el, el, el visado, la presencia de
Mariela Castro alli en los Estados Unidos, una funcionaria del
regimen represor, que va a alli a promover el, el--la tirania
que oprime, que mata, que hostiga a nuestra patria, constituye
para nosotros un insulto y una ofensa. Y, es una--y, un asunto
tambien, teniendose en cuenta que Mariela Castro va a los
Estados Unidos y se pudiera olvidar y con sugerencias, todo eso
en su video. Ahi yo preguntaria: oPudieran los opositores de
Cuba, pudieran los lideres de organizaciones, pudieran los
lideres de la iniciativa importantes, pudieran visitar el pais
del norte, alli, visitar alli, exponer su criterio sin regresar
a la isla con entera libertad? Muchas gracias, senor senador.
Interpreter. To conclude, because I have already said a lot
and those who spoke before me have done so very eloquently,
maybe even so more than me, like Jose Marti said, the truth is
to be said, not to be hidden.
And in this regard and in terms of the visas, I find that
Mariela Castro's visit to the United States, being an official
of this regime that oppresses, that kills, and that harasses
the Cuban people, is a complete insult and an utter offense to
us. Now Mariela Castro is out there visiting the United States,
and I would like to ask, could we, the opposers in Cuba, the
leaders of different organizations and different initiatives go
to the United States and come to the island freely?
Thank you very much.
Senator Menendez. Well, thank you all for your testimony.
Let me observe for the record that the chair is cognizant
of members of the Castro regime who are here from the Cuban
Interests Section, taking notes of everything that has been
said. The chairman fully intends to monitor the rights of these
three individuals who have spoken and to make sure that they
are not repressed or face any consequences upon their return to
their homes.
And it will be the committee's singular focus, and we will
certainly ask the United States Government through its
Interests Section in Cuba to ensure that these individuals, to
the extent that we have the ability possible, that they do not
face a reprisal as a result of their testimony here today.
Now, with that, let me just take a few minutes to take
advantage of the opportunity to ask some questions.
Mr. Hernandez, yesterday, before, we had a chance to chat,
and I found something very interesting, two things very
interesting in what you said. You said that there was a
redline, a redline of dissent activity, dissident activity
which is implicitly tolerated by the regime. But if you cross
that redline, that was not tolerated by the regime.
Could you tell us what activity is permitted up to the
redline and then what happens when you cross the redline?
Mr. Hernandez. Si, senor Boss Melendez. Todos sabemos que
el gobierno cubano, hasta cierto punto permite lo que conocemos
como lucha pacifica no violenta, pasiva.
[Dial tone sounds.]
Senator Menendez. Continue.
Interpreter. Yes, Mr. Senator Menendez, we all know that
the Cuban Government allows what they call up to a peaceful,
nonviolent, passive fight.
Mr. Hernandez. Entre este tipo de lucha no violenta,
pacifica pasiva, se encuentran, por ejemplo, las personas que
sacan informacion den . . . desde Cuba hacia al exterior. Pero,
que no hacen nada mas que eso.
Interpreter. This peaceful, nonviolent, passive type of
fight includes the people that send information from Cuba to
the world, but don't go beyond that.
Mr. Hernandez. Y, la influencia que tienen para el interior
de la isla, es muy pequena, es practicamente des--despreciable.
Interpreter. And the influence that they have within the
island is very small. It is despicable. oLa influencia que hay
dentro de la isla?
Mr. Hernandez. Si. Es como un acuerdo tacito, que ha
existido durante anos entre la disidencia, la oposicion
pacifica y el gobierno de los hermanos Castro, el regimen de
los hermanos Castro.
Interpreter. This is like an implicit agreement that has
existed for years between the dissidents, the peaceful
opposition, and the Castro brothers.
Mr. Hernandez. Esto no quiere decir que estas personas no
sean reprimidas. Esto no quiere decir que estas personas no
sean hostigadas. Esto no quiere decir que estas personas se
vean en serios problemas con su estabilidad emocional y
psicologica, y con serios problemas de limitaciones de libertad
dentro de Cuba.
Interpreter. This does not mean that these people are not
repressed, harassed, or have serious problems including
emotional and psychological stability, and they don't have
problems within Cuba.
Senator Menendez. So what happens when you--so those are
the people who take the information of repression inside of
Cuba and tell the rest of the world. What is crossing the line?
What actions cross the line for which you ultimately find
yourself arrested, incarcerated, and what not?
Mr. Hernandez. Si. Y, va y va a este punto en estos
momentos.
Interpreter. I was getting there.
Mr. Hernandez. Cruzar la linea roja, es lo que hace Sara
Marta Fonseca, es lo que hace Jorge Luis Garcia Perez Antunez,
es lo que hace Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia. Son lo que hacen las
personas en Cuba, que luchan de forma frontal contra el regimen
de los hermanos Castros, ganando espacios de libertades
publicos.
Interpreter. Crossing the line is what Sara Marta Fonseca
or Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia or Jorge Luis Perez Antunez do,
which is to engage on a head-on fight with the Castro regime
and gain public freedom spaces.
Mr. Hernandez. Es lo que hacen las Damas de Blanco todos
los domingos.
Interpreter. It is what the Ladies in White do every
Sunday.
Mr. Hernandez. Emocionado me encuentro en estos momentos,
al ver a Sara Marta Fonseca, una de las victimas de la
represion cubana, que a diario--para decirlo hasta cierto
punto--vive de--en un desasosiego.
Interpreter. I find it very moving to see here Sara Marta
Fonseca, a victim of the Cuban repression who lives in a
permanent state of unrest. En un desasosiego.
Mr. Hernandez. Falta de paz, de tranquilidad.
Interpreter. OK. OK.
Mr. Hernandez. Los que se interesan por la realidad de
Cuba, hemos podido ver los mitines de repudio en su vivienda,
como ella decia, que se catalogan como terrorismo de estado.
Interpreter. Those of you who are interested in the Cuban
current affairs can see the acts of repudiation that took place
at her home that could be characterized as state terrorism.
Mr. Hernandez. Lider de una de las manifestaciones mas
mencionadas en los ultimos tiempos en Cuba, que fue la
manifestacion que realizo en la escalinata del capitolio en
Ciudad de La Habana.
Interpreter. She led one of the protests that has been most
widely mentioned in Cuba in recent years, which took place on
the stairs of the capitol building in Havana.
Senator Menendez. So does crossing the redline then mean
gaining public space, gaining recognition for your peaceful
activities inside of Cuba? That is what the regime does not
permit? That is what gets you arrested?
Mr. Hernandez. El regimen cubano, lo que no quiere es
perder espacios. El regimen cubano, lo que no desea, es que la
disidencia y la oposicion se haga representativa de la
sociedad. Y, cualquier intento que exista para ganarle espacios
publicos, cualquier intento que exista para hacerse
representativo de esta sociedad cubana, el regimen cubano lo
considera estar del lado alla de la linea roja no permisible.
Interpreter. Any attempt to gain any kind of public space,
any kind of activity by the dissidents or the opposition to try
to get some kind of representation in society, any kind of
attempt to do this is what the Castro regime does not allow,
and that constitutes crossing the redline.
Senator Menendez. So, to summarize, if you are a dissident
and what you are doing is sending information about what is
happening inside of Cuba to the rest of the world, you are
oppressed, but you are not necessarily arrested. If you are a
dissident, political activist, or independent journalist, and
seek peaceful movement inside of Cuba internally and promote
that internally and create the space in which that is known
internally, that is what likely gets you arrested?
Mr. Hernandez. Si, hasta cierto punto, si. oPor que digo
hasta cierto punto? Porque no todo en Cuba es blanco y negro.
Interpreter. Yes, up to a certain point, it is. And why do
I say up to a certain point? Because in Cuba, not everything is
black or white.
Senator Menendez. Did Laura Pollan, the founder of the
Damas de Blanco, cross the redline, and did that result in her
death?
Mr. Hernandez. Laura Pollan con su liderazgo, logro ocupar
un espacio publico que no se habia ocupado nunca antes en Cuba.
Interpreter. Laura Pollan, with her leadership, was able to
gain a public space and occupy it in a way that had never been
done before in Cuba.
Mr. Hernandez. Las marchas de las Damas de Blanco todos los
domingos por la centrica Quinta Avenida en Ciudad de La Habana,
ha tenido repercusion nacional y repercusion internacional. Se
han dado a conocer.
Interpreter. The marches that take place and that the
Ladies in White take place in every Sunday downtown Fifth
Avenue in Havana are being known about nationally and
internationally. They got the message out.
Mr. Hernandez. Y, es un ejemplo a imitar, de todas las
organizaciones y de la sociedad civil cubana. Hay que tomar los
espacios publicos, porque si no, no seriamos representativos de
esta sociedad. Hay que buscar la forma de ser representativos
de la sociedad, para provocar los necesarios cambios.
Interpreter. And this is a message that we need to send out
to all of the Cuban people, all of the civil society
organizations. We need to gain these public spaces. This is the
only way that we can get the recognition that we need to get to
the change that we all need.
Mr. Hernandez. Y, hacer este trabajo, es estar del lado de
la linea roja que el gobierno no permite.
Interpreter. But doing so constitutes being on the other
side of the redline, and that is not allowed by the government.
Senator Menendez. Finally, before I turn to Senator Rubio,
to our two witnesses from Havana, I want to ask them, one, we
have seen a tremendous increase in arrests and detentions in
Cuba over the last 6 months. What do you believe is the cause
for that crackdown?
And second, how can we help you to communicate and spread
your message, your message for human rights and freedom inside
of Cuba?
Mr. Perez. Si, ha, ha habido un aumento vertiginoso de
represion en los ultimos 6 meses.
Interpreter. There has been increase in crackdown on
repression over the past 6 months.
Mr. Perez. Este aumento de represion, se torna con mas
sana, con mas violencia.
Interpreter. This violent--this increasing repression has
become harsher and more violent.
Mr. Perez. Pero, si es cierto que ha habido un aumento en
la represion. Yo creo que mas importante es significar el
aumento del activismo. Es decir, que paralelo al aumento de la
represion, ha habido un aumento importante del activismo y de
la protesta en la calle.
Interpreter. But even more so important, in addition to
this increase in repression, there has been an increase in
activism that took place in parallel to this increase in
repression, and we see that out on the streets.
Mr. Perez. Y, en lo que respecta a como ayudar, se puede
apoyar y ayudar de muchas, de muchas formas. Se puede intentar
promover lo que esta ocurriendo en, en Cuba por todas partes
del mundo, llevarles la realidad cubana a cada foro
internacional, a cada encuentro.
Interpreter. In terms of helping, well, there is many ways.
One would be to promote what is going on in Cuba and
disseminate information all over the world to take it to all of
the international fora.
Mr. Perez. Y, en terminos concretos, en este caso podemos
hablar, por ejemplo, creo que la--fortalecer las emisiones de
Radio Marti y Radio Republica, serian algo muy importante y
efectivo.
Interpreter. And more specifically, to strengthen
broadcasting from Radio Marti and Radio Republica would be
extremely important and effective.
Mr. Perez. Y, a proposito de radio, de Radio Republica, hay
algo que nos ha preocupado--que preocupa, que preocupa mucho,
tanto en la resistencia como en las filas de la oposicion. Y,
es que no, no entendemos como en momentos en que la oposicion
esta ganando este espacio, en momentos que esta este importante
despertar.
Interpreter. And there is in terms of Radio Republica,
there is a very big concern among the resistance and among the
opposition, and that is that we don't understand how at this
time when the opposition is gaining all of these spaces----
Mr. Perez. No entendemos por--como es posible que el
gobierno de los Estados Unidos de America, nuestro aliado
historico en la lucha por la libertad, por ejemplo, le haya
privado a organizaciones tan importantes, tan cercanas a la
causa del, del pueblo, del pueblo cubano, de los presos, de los
familiares, a organizaciones--
el directorio democratico cubano con cede en Miami y plantado
hasta la libertad y la democracia en Cuba, que han tenido
tradicionalmente una serie de programas que han contribuido
importantemente en el fortalecimiento de la, de la oposicion y
en el apoyo moral y de todo tipo, a lo que en Cuba lucha mucho.
Interpreter. So we don't understand how is it possible for
the Government of the United States of America, who has been
our historical ally in this fight for freedom, how it has
denied private organizations that have such closeness to us
that do such important work for the Cuban people, more
specifically the Cuban Democratic Board, who has programs that
have contributed to the increase in the opposition.
Mr. Perez. Creo que en ese tema, creo que he respondido
mas. oAlguna otra pregunta?
Senator Menendez. Could you ask him if he was referring to
Directorio's funds for the purposes of helping inside of Cuba,
that they have--I understand that they have been ceased?
Interpreter. oSara Marta quisiera opinar?
Ms. Fonseca. No, lo mismo que tu.
Interpreter. oSe esta refiriendo a los fondos del
directorio destinados al interior de Cuba, que tengo entendido
fueron incautados?
Mr. Perez. Me estoy refiriendo a los fondos para el
Directorio democratico Cubano.
Interpreter. I am referring to those funds. The funds for
the Cuban Democratic Board.
Senator Menendez. Well----
Mr. Perez. A esos mismos fondos.
Interpreter. And other organization----
Mr. Perez. Y, plantados a nuestra libertad a la democracia.
Organizacion que estaba conformada por ex presos politicos
veteranos, presos politicos reconocidos, presos politicos que
han tenido un muy serio y conmovedor trabajo con los familiares
y con los presos, durante largos anos.
Interpreter. Y, oque? Plantados. This is an organization
made up of ex-veterans and political prisoners, as they call
them, who have done some serious work with their peers and
their families for years--para la libertad y la democracia.
Senator Menendez. Well, with my thanks to Sara Marta
Fonseca, Jorge Luis Perez ``Antunez'' and Jose Daniel Ferrer
Garcia for coming under very difficult circumstances and for
once again exhibiting your courage and risking, I understand,
the potential consequences from being willing to speak the
truth about your reality and challenges in a simple public
forum here in the United States via our satellite hookup, with
enormous respect for your commitment to peacefully creating
civil society and space inside of Cuba, you have the thanks of
myself as the chairman, Senator Rubio, and the members of this
committee.
Interpreter. Quiero expresarles mi mas profundo
agradecimiento a Sara Marta Fonseca Quevedo, a Jos . . . Jorge
Luis Perez Antunez y a Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, por haberse
acercado en circunstancias sumamente dificiles. Y, una vez mas,
haber mostrado este enorme valor e incluso a . . . arriesgarse
a las posibles consecuencias que puedan llegar a sufrir. Y, por
estar dispuestos a hablar de la ver . . . De la verdad, de la
realidad y los desafios que viven en Cuba. Mis mas profundos
respetos por su compromiso, de parte mia y de parte del senador
Rubio, y de todos los aqui presentes.
Senator Menendez. With that and with our thanks to the U.S.
Interests Section for facilitating our witnesses' visit and for
facilitating the ability to communicate here, with our thanks
to Mr. Hernandez Gonzalez and to all, I think this has been a
tremendous insight into the realities of life inside of Cuba,
to the challenges that Cuban citizens face to enjoy the very
basic fundamental freedoms that we observe here in the United
States and, for that fact, most of the Western world.
It is a reality inside of Cuba that one can face
repression, torture, or imprisonment simply for speaking one's
mind or simply for coming together in common cause to organize.
Our witnesses, who have languished in Castro's jails for years,
are living witnesses to that reality. All the romanticism in
the world cannot erase the reality that they have spoken of
today. And so, they have our thanks.
The record will remain open for 1 week. Any members who
wish to ask questions may do so.
Senator Menendez. And with the thanks of the committee,
this hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 1:10 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
Responses of Assistant Secretary Roberta Jacobson to Questions
Submitted by Senator Benjamin L. Cardin
Question. ALAN GROSS: During your confirmation hearing last year,
you pledged to continue to make Alan Gross's release a priority during
your tenure as Assistant Secretary. How has this commitment
materialized? What concrete actions have you and your staff taken to
bring Alan home? Has there been any progress?
Answer. This administration views securing the immediate release of
Alan Gross as an urgent priority. From the very beginning of his unjust
detention, we have been careful to take our cues from, and respect the
wishes of Mr. Gross's family, who have been deprived of the presence of
their loving husband, father, and son. Since Mr. Gross's arrest, we
have used and continue to use every appropriate diplomatic channel to
press for his release, both publicly and privately. In addition to
pressing the Cuban Government directly for his release, we have also
urged governments around the world, prominent figures traveling to
Cuba, and religious leaders to speak out on behalf of Mr. Gross. We
strongly believe that Mr. Gross deserves to come home and be with his
family, and we continue to press the Cuban Government to do the right
thing and release him.
Question. HUMANITARIAN GESTURES: I understand that many try to
equate Alan Gross's imprisonment with that of the so-called Cuban Five.
I defy this. However, I did note that we recently allowed Rene
Gonzalez, one of the Cuban Five, to travel from the United States to
Cuba to visit an ailing relative. As you know, the Gross family has
been calling for a reciprocal humanitarian gesture which would allow
Alan to visit his ailing mother and daughter. I firmly believe the
Cuban authorities should release Alan Gross and call on them to do so
immediately. Have you discussed this ``humanitarian gesture'' with the
Cuban authorities? If so, what was their response?
Answer. The Cuban Government frequently attempts to compare Mr.
Gross's situation to the cases of the Cuban Five, five intelligence
agents who were arrested in September 1998 and later convicted of a
number of crimes in the United States. We do not equate the situations,
and we continue to call on the Cuban Government to grant the request of
Alan Gross to travel to the United States to visit his 90-year-old
mother, Evelyn Gross. She is suffering from inoperable lung cancer and
cannot, due to her condition, travel to Cuba.
Regarding Rene Gonzalez's travel to Cuba to visit his seriously ill
brother, it was a U.S. district court that granted this travel request.
While Mr. Gross's situation is not comparable to those of the Cuban
Five in any way, we strongly believe that the Cuban Government missed
an opportunity to make a reciprocal humanitarian gesture and allow Mr.
Gross to visit his mother.
Unfortunately, despite Mr. Gross's compelling humanitarian
circumstances, the Cuban Government has thus far refused to grant or
respond to Mr. Gross's request. We continue to press the Cuban
Government on this issue.
Question. LEARNING FROM OUR MISTAKES: Obviously, Alan Gross's
mission, to expand Internet access to the Jewish community in Cuba, was
a noble one. Yet, it went horribly awry and he and his family are
suffering the consequences. What types of formal evaluation have
occurred in the aftermath of Alan's imprisonment that will prevent
future mistakes of this magnitude and keep hardworking U.S. citizens
out of harm's way? Have you and your colleagues at USAID analyzed the
``lessons learned'' from this tragedy and changed standard operating
procedures for future programs?
Answer. State and USAID have conducted reviews of all Cuba programs
and continue to do so on a regular basis. However, carrying out
democracy assistance programs in authoritarian states such as Cuba
always carries some degree of risk. All grantees and contractors are
well aware of such risks.
Most organizations that carry out programs in Cuba have experience
working in closed societies. Our grantees are aware of the risks of
operating in the Cuban environment. We regularly communicate with
grantees regarding developments on the island.
During the grant application process, proposals are judged on an
organization's ability to achieve an objective and on past performance,
among other criteria. For grantees applying for projects in Cuba,
proposals that demonstrate a clear understanding of the Cuban context
and an ability to operate in a restricted environment are generally
viewed more favorably.
To minimize the risks associated with carrying out programs in
Cuba, we encourage grantees to limit travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens
and permanent residents wherever possible. State and USAID advise
grantees to carefully select the consultants and personnel they
contract to implement programs in Cuba.
______
Responses of Assistant Secretary Roberta Jacobson to Questions
Submitted
by Senator Marco Rubio
Question. Secretary Clinton has reaffirmed the U.S.'s commitment to
global Internet freedom and has made this part of her main platform. In
a recent speech, she said that ``the defense of a free, open, and
interconnected Internet is a U.S. foreign policy priority. The State
Department works to advance Internet freedom as an aspect of the
universal rights of freedom of expression and the free flow of
information.''
Considering the importance of freedom of Internet, can you explain
what the Department is currently doing to expand Internet freedom in
the island? Has the State Department allocated any actual funding to
help increase Internet availability in Cuba? What about connectivity
within the island?
Today's hearing is on strengthening civil society in Cuba. Do you
believe that freedom of the Internet and access to technology should be
part of our focus in strengthening Cuba's civil society? What is the
State Department doing to promote Internet freedom and access in Cuba?
Answer. The United States works to advance Internet freedom for
people around the world, including in Cuba. Our support for
strengthening Cuba's civil society includes promoting Internet freedom
and access to information and technology.
In April 2009, the President directed the Departments of State,
Treasury, and Commerce to take certain steps to increase the flow of
information to the Cuban people. In response, the Treasury Department's
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) made certain changes to its
licensing policy, as reflected in the Cuban Assets Control Regulations
(CACR), 31 CFR. 515. Among other changes, OFAC created a general
license, authorizing transactions incident to the establishment of
facilities to provide telecommunications services linking the United
States and Cuba, including but not limited to fiber optic cable and
satellite telecommunications facilities. Access to a freer flow of
information will provide the Cuban people, including democracy
activists and civil society, with information and tools that better
prepare them to freely determine their own future and support
communication between Cuba and the outside world.
OFAC also created a general license authorizing contracts with non-
Cuban telecommunications providers for telecommunications services
provided to particular individuals in Cuba, provided that such
individuals in Cuba are not prohibited officials of the Cuban
Government or Cuban Communist Party as defined in the CACR. This move
allows personal Internet communications service providers to reinstate
services that some providers had terminated out of a desire to avoid a
violation of U.S. sanctions against Cuba.
The purpose of U.S. democracy programs in Cuba is to increase the
free flow of information to, from, and within Cuba. Our U.S. Interests
Section in Havana offers free high-speed, uncensored Internet access
stations to the public, a popular service that generates more than
28,800 user hours per year. USINT also offers distance learning and
other training to the Cuban public on information technology, Internet
usage, social media, and online journalism to enable and support the
free flow of information. The FY 2011 Congressional Notification for
the Cuba Economic Support Funds outlines proposals to encourage the
application of innovative technology to increase interconnectivity
among civil society actors, to facilitate the flow of uncensored
information, and to study ways to expand Internet access and
connectivity within the island. These proposals also support using
information communications technology to tackle pressing issues in
Cuba, such as documenting and publicizing human rights abuses, cyber
security, impunity, and corruption.
The United States supports Internet freedom for Cubans, as the free
flow of information empowers individuals and strengthens civil society.
We will continue to explore new technologies that hold the prospect of
making uncensored Internet access a reality for the Cuban public in
general.
Question. The State Department gave a visa to Raul Castro's
daughter, Mariela, to speak at conferences in San Francisco and New
York. Any nonseasoned Cuba observer knows that Mariela is currently the
highest-profile spokesperson for her family dictatorship. She's been
traveling the world defending her family's rule, insulting dissidents
(calling them ``despicable parasites'') and justifying the arbitrary
taking of an American hostage.
Why would the State Department, despite the current visa ban on
senior level Communist Party officials, grant an exception to Mariela
Castro for this visit, where she predictably insulted my constituents
and sought to discredit Cuba's courageous dissidents?
Shouldn't the United States have been denying visas to these
spokespersons of the regime until democracy activists are allowed equal
time, and until American hostage, Alan Gross, is given an exit visa to
come home to his family?
Answer. As Director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education,
Mariela Castro Espin was invited to attend the 30th International
Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) in San
Francisco and to speak on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
rights in California and New York. She last visited the United States
in 2002, during the Bush administration.
We cannot discuss specific details about Mariela Castro's
individual case because visa records are confidential under Federal
law. However, the State Department places the highest priority on
security and compliance with U.S. law and regulations when adjudicating
visas applications.
Presidential Proclamation 5377 of October 4, 1985, and other
applicable policies and requirements are duly considered in the
adjudication of visa applications submitted by Cuban nationals.
Presidential Proclamation 5377 suspends entry into the United States of
certain employees and officers of the Government of Cuba and the
Communist Party. However, the Proclamation does not contain a blanket
prohibition on issuing visas to Government and Party officials and
employees. For example, the Proclamation allows entry of Cuban
officials to conduct official business at the Cuban Interests Section
and the Cuban U.N. mission. Moreover, under section 2(c) of the
Proclamation, the Secretary of State may designate certain cases or
categories of cases to which the suspension does not apply. Secretaries
have from time to time made such designations, including a 1999
designation that had the effect of focusing the Proclamation's
application mainly on high-level government and Party officials,
including the Cuban President and Vice President, the National Assembly
President and Vice President; Politburo members; certain high-level
Communist Party officials; and senior military, intelligence, and
police officials. In light of the 1999 designation, Mariela Castro's
visa request did not fall into any of the categories to which the
Proclamation still effectively applies.
We condemn her comments concerning brave dissidents in Cuba and her
statements defending the indefensible imprisonment of Alan Gross. The
administration is strongly committed to supporting the promotion of
human rights and respect for fundamental freedoms in Cuba, as well as
free flow of information to, from, and within Cuba. Unlike the Cuban
Government, we respect the freedom of speech and are not threatened by
viewpoints with which we disagree.
In regard to Alan Gross, we have used, and continue to use, every
appropriate diplomatic channel to press for Mr. Gross' release, both
publicly and privately. We have urged governments around the world,
prominent figures traveling to Cuba, and religious leaders to press for
Gross' immediate release. We have made clear that he was, as the Cuban
Government appears to admit, simply assisting Cuban citizens to secure
Internet access. We have made clear that we will not accept any effort
to equate him or his efforts with those of Cuban intelligence officers
who were duly convicted of espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, and
other crimes. We continue to work to free Mr. Gross so that he may be
reunited with his family.
Question. There's a long history of physical and psychological
intimidation and harassment by Castro regime officials toward U.S.
diplomats stationed at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. Recently,
The Miami Herald reported that the Cuban regime has heightened its
harassment of our diplomats and tightened travel restrictions, so they
cannot leave Havana. Thus, obviously, the Castro regime is not
reciprocating the goodwill of the State Department in granting numerous
visas to Castro regime officials and letting them roam freely
throughout the United States.
Can you share with me what the State Department position is with
regard to this? Are we implementing security measures to avoid the
harassment of our diplomats?
Answer. We have been concerned for some time and strongly condemn
the ongoing Cuban Government harassment of our personnel in Havana, who
are often publicly criticized in Cuban state-run media for conducting
their normal activities. The U.S. Interests Section regularly, as a
matter of policy, engages with the broadest group of Cubans--including
democracy activists and human rights defenders--to learn from their
perspectives and to promote further cultural understanding, especially
on the topics of democracy, fundamental freedoms, and human rights.
USINT has encouraged and will continue to encourage other countries'
missions and diplomats and the media to focus on human rights
conditions in Cuba. U.S. personnel perform their professional duties
and carry out their challenging assignments in this restrictive
environment despite the risks and harassment. We regularly encourage
all members of USINT staff to report any acts of harassment so that we
can promptly register our objections directly with Cuban authorities.
In 2002, the Cuban Government imposed travel restrictions on USINT
officials limiting their travel within Havana province. Current
restrictions on travel outside Havana hamper our ability to fully carry
out our obligations under the Migration Accords and other core
activities, including protection of U.S. citizens in Cuba. The
restrictions also severely limit contact by USINT personnel with all
but a small number of Cubans outside of Havana. The State Department
has implemented reciprocal travel restrictions on CUBUN officials to
within a 25-mile perimeter of New York City, and CUBINT officials
within the Capital Beltway perimeter of Washington, DC, absent specific
permission by the Department on a case-by-case basis to travel outside
these perimeters, for example, to conduct consular visits to Cubans
incarcerated in the United States.
Our Diplomatic Security (DS) staff is dedicated to providing a
secure living and working environment for our personnel in Havana, 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. They are responsible for developing and
implementing security policies and programs that provide for the
protection of all U.S. Government personnel on official duty within
Havana and their accompanying dependents.
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