Ensign EXTRA

Senator Ensign recognizes Cuba Solidarity Day and calls on the world to fight against oppression in Cuba

May 21, 2008

Washington, D.C. – Senator John Ensign entered the following statement into the Congressional Record today, Cuba Solidarity Day:

Mr. President, I rise in support of this resolution to recognize Cuba Solidarity Day and the struggle of the Cuban people as they continue to fight for freedom. Cuba Solidarity Day is a call for the world to join together in the fight against oppression in Cuba. It is way of drawing attention to the injustices faced by the people of Cuba under the current regime and a way of saying that our country stands together with the Cuban people as they work toward democratic change.

I believe that it is our country’s duty to push for a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba. It is a travesty that, more than a decade after the Cold War ended, a brutal communist dictator is still oppressing people just miles off the coast of Florida.

The people of Cuba continue to be denied the most basic human rights and the freedoms of speech, press, and assembly. It is estimated that more than 220 individuals are being held as political prisoners by the communist regime in Cuba. For the dissidents suffering prison terms, and for their families and loved ones, their suffering is real. And it is our duty as a free nation to let them know that we remember them, that they are not forgotten, and that their suffering is for a purpose. They must know that the world is watching and that we will not rest and will not tire and will keep working to support them until they are finally free.

I am reminded of the story that Natan Sharansky tells about his time in the Soviet gulag, when word came that President Reagan had called the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire." For the political prisoners, it was the first sign that they had not been forgotten. It was a signal to them that the leader of the world's most powerful democracy had no illusions about the true nature of that regime, that he knew of their plight and was ready to call the Soviet system what is was—evil.

This resolution sends a signal to all the dissidents and political prisoners in Cuba that we have no illusions about the nature of Castro's brother’s brutal regime and that we know of their plight and stand ready to help them.

Mr. President, I truly believe there is hope. We are witnessing a remarkable time in history as freedom prevails in places that were once rife with oppression. As former Czech Republic President Václav Havel once said, “without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations.” It is now time for the world to voice its support of the Cuban people so they too can rise above the injustice of the communist regime and finally achieve the freedom and independence of a democratic nation.