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Human Rights in Cuba: a Squandered Opportunity

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Human Rights in Cuba: a Squandered Opportunity HUMAN RIGHTS IN CUBA: A SQUANDERED OPPORTUNITY HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION FEBRUARY 5, 2015 Serial No. 114–13 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 93–159PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:32 Apr 28, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\_AGH\020515\93159 SHIRL COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida TED POE, Texas BRIAN HIGGINS, New York MATT SALMON, Arizona KAREN BASS, California DARRELL E. ISSA, California WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina ALAN GRAYSON, Florida MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California PAUL COOK, California ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas GRACE MENG, New York SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania LOIS FRANKEL, Florida RON DESANTIS, Florida TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas TED S. YOHO, Florida ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois CURT CLAWSON, Florida BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan LEE M. ZELDIN, New York TOM EMMER, Minnesota AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina KAREN BASS, California CURT CLAWSON, Florida DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee AMI BERA, California TOM EMMER, Minnesota (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:32 Apr 28, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AGH\020515\93159 SHIRL C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES Mr. Jorge Luis Garcı´a Pe´rez, Secretary General, Cuban National Civic Resist- ance Front ............................................................................................................. 15 Ms. Berta Soler Ferna´ndez, leader, Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) ........... 19 Ms. Sara Martha Fonseca Quevedo, member, Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) .................................................................................................................. 24 Mr. Geoff Thale, program director, Washington Office on Latin America .......... 28 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, and chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations: Prepared statement .............................................................................................................. 4 Mr. Jorge Luis Garcı´a Pe´rez: Prepared statement ............................................... 17 Ms. Berta Soler Ferna´ndez: Prepared statement .................................................. 22 Ms. Sara Martha Fonseca Quevedo: Prepared statement .................................... 26 Mr. Geoff Thale: Prepared statement .................................................................... 31 APPENDIX Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 54 Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 55 The Honorable Christopher H. Smith: Statement of Christopher J. Burgos of STFA ................................................................................................................. 56 The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida: Letter from the International Committee of Former Cuban Political Prisoners ................................................................................................ 64 Mr. Jorge Luis Garcı´a Pe´rez: Agreement for Democracy in Cuba ....................... 71 Ms. Berta Soler Ferna´ndez: IAC precautionary measure for the Ladies in White ........................................ 72 Report by Cubalex ................................................................................................ 77 The Honorable Christopher H. Smith: Cuba Section of Trafficking in Persons Report .................................................. 83 Letter to President Obama from the STFA ....................................................... 86 Statement on the human rights of all ................................................................ 88 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:32 Apr 28, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AGH\020515\93159 SHIRL VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:32 Apr 28, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AGH\020515\93159 SHIRL HUMAN RIGHTS IN CUBA: A SQUANDERED OPPORTUNITY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:03 a.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H. Smith (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. SMITH. Good morning to everyone. And welcome to this very timely and important hearing on human rights in Cuba. We are here to examine the state of human rights, which is a very timely topic indeed, given the Obama administration’s sea change in policy toward Cuba announced at the end of last year. We are here to ask whether, in undertaking this change in pol- icy, the Obama administration used the considerable leverage that it wields to seek to better the condition of the Cuban people or whether, as I fear, an opportunity that was squandered in its haste to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough and even create a legacy for the President. Thus this hearing is not only about Castro regime accountability, but also the Obama administration’s accountability, with Congress exercising its role of both oversight and as a bully pulpit for re- minding the world that Cuba remains a Communist dictatorship which continues to arrest political dissidents—and I would under- score an estimated 178 political dissidents in the last month alone—and one whose caudillo, Raul Castro, has declared would not change, even in response to the Obama administration’s conces- sions. This Castro regime continues to harbor fugitives from justice, such as Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted in the 1973 murder of a state trooper in my own home State of New Jersey. Officer Werner Foerster was gunned down gangland style after she es- caped from prison. Indeed, just yesterday we had the Assistant Sec- retary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Roberta Jacobson, ap- pear before the Committee on Foreign Affairs. I asked her what the response of the Cuban Government was when she raised the issue of the return of Joanne Chesimard to justice. She replied that the Cuban Government stated that it was, ‘‘Not interested in dis- cussing her return.’’ That is absolutely unacceptable. (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:32 Apr 28, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AGH\020515\93159 SHIRL 2 I have in my hands a statement, which I ask to be submitted for the record, from Christopher Burgos, the president of the State Troopers’ Fraternal Association of New Jersey, wherein he states on behalf of our Jersey state troopers that, ‘‘We are shocked and very disappointed that returning a convicted killer of a state troop- er was not already demanded and accomplished in the context of the steps announced by the White House regarding this despotic dictatorship.’’ I would also point out, as an aside, that both President Burgos and New Jersey State Police Superintendent Colonel Rick Fuentes both very much wanted to be here, and we will have another hear- ing to hear from them. And I look forward to that follow-up hear- ing. But, fortunately, we do have with us and it is a tremendous honor and a privilege to have with us today three extraordinarily brave and uniquely qualified witnesses to the brutality of the Cuban dictatorship, three human rights activists who at great per- sonal cost to themselves and their families have and continue to stand up for human dignity. We will hear about the deplorable state of human rights in Cuba. Just read the State Department report on human rights as well as reporting that has been done by other NGOs and it couldn’t be more clear that human rights are violated with impunity by the Castro brothers and their regime. I would note parenthetically that years ago, during the Reagan administration, I met with Armando Valladares, who spent almost two decades in the Cuban gulag system. And I will never forget, when I read his book—he actually led the delegation from the United States
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