Moving Speech

The following are excerpts of the speech congressman Chris Smith of NEW JERSEY gave at the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC luncheon on Monday. You can see why his words inspired me to write the Biscet speech post.

Someday, future generations will look back on Castro’s brutality, systematic use of torture and mass murder and wonder how so many seemingly enlightened people of our day, failed to see the parallels with Stalin, Hitler, Mao Tse-Tung, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung, Slobodan Milosevic, Nicolae Ceausescu and Charles Taylor.

They will judge the left’s—and some on the right’s—unseemly love affair with this cruel man with a mix of bewilderment, incredulity and disgust, just as most everyone today are at a loss to understand the enablers of past dictatorships.

When Cuba is free and that’s when, not if, and the massive global cover-up and disinformation campaign is more fully exposed, it will be because of your steadfast dedication to truth; it will be because of your indomitable spirit; it will be because of your compassion; it will be because of your prayer; and it will be because of the sacrifice—even martyrdom—of the political prisoners.

Of all the books by political prisoners I have read over the years, and I have read many, three have had a profound, life changing impact on me—and undoubtedly, on millions of others.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “Gulag Archipelago”—the expose of the Soviet gulag; Pastor Richard Wurmbrand’s “Tortured for Christ”, a horrifying portrayal of the Securitati’s unspeakable torture of Christians in Communist Romania; and Armando Valladares historic memoir, “Against All Hope.”

Armando Valladares—just like some of you in this room and like the hundreds of brave men and women who today languish in Cuba’s infamous gulags—endured, overcame and then bore witness to systematic torture, perversions by sadistic guards and barbaric, degrading acts like immersing prisoners into a large vat of human excrement.

Valladares wrote: “the government of Cuba and the defenders of the Cuban Revolution denied that incidents that I recited from the book ever happened.

“Castro sympathizers, who were more subtle, said the incidents I described were exaggerations.

“And there were others, well meaning, who simply could not bring themselves to believe that such horrible, crimes and torture existed in the political prisons of Cuba.”

“My response to those who still try to justify Castro’s tyranny with the excuse that he has built schools and hospitals is this: Stalin, Hitler and Pinochet also built schools and hospitals, and like Castro, they also tortured and assassinated opponents. They built concentration and extermination camps and eradicated all liberties, committing the worst crimes against humanity.”

By meticulously detailing his 22 years in hell, and by demanding systemic reform, Valladares, like you, has made it absolutely clear that the cause of freedom and respect for human rights is non-negotiable, it is the prerequisite to all that follows like trade and travel and that we will never cease striving until Cuba is free, with a transparent and durable democracy and has a government of, by, and for the people.

During the Reagan years, I joined Ambassador Valladares at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva. I joined him as he lobbied other ambassadors to pass a first-of-its-kind resolution condemning Cuba’s human rights violations.

Amazingly, even the U.N. bureaucrats, who sometimes worry more about their per diem or slandering Israel, agreed to open up an investigation.

A U.N. team was deployed to Cuba and got “assurances” that there would be no backlash against those who came forward. When it became clear that retaliation wasn’t occasional, or the exception but was pervasive, it looked as if the U.N. might finally find its voice—now it was their actions that had negative, dire consequences on innocent people. We hoped. Sadly, the UN disappointed again, although over the years, with great leadership from the U.S. and effective lobbying by Cuban Americans in Geneva, resolutions have passed condemning Casto’s crimes. And that has brought at least some scrutiny and at least some hope for the captives.

Some of you may know that over the years, I have organized and chaired several hearings on human rights abuses in Cuba and have also tried with Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia to visit political prisoners in Cuba. Each time we’ve tried, we have been turned down flat. By way of contrast, Congressman Wolf and I have been to some of the most notorious communist prisons on earth, including in the 1980s—Perm Camp 35 in the Ural Mountains of the Soviet Union and to a Laogai concentration camp in China filled with Tiananmen Square protestors. I visited Xanana Gusmao in a Jakarta Prison—a man who went on to become Prime Minister of a free East Timor. But not Cuba—Cuba won’t even let the ICRC in for a look…because they have so much to hide.

When I organized and chaired a hearing on Cuba’s children’s rights violations with a particular emphasis on Elian Gonzalez my Committee’s Ranking Member, Cynthia McKinney invited Rev. Walker of New Jersey to put a positive spin on things. Rev. Walker said he visited Cuba 40 times—and to hear him tell it, Castro and his thugs have fashioned a near paradise.

He even said Castro was fulfilling our Lord’s admonitions found in Matthew’s Gospel in the 25th Chapter “When I was hungry you fed me…thirsty did you give me drink?”

I responded that Matthew 25 was—and is—my favorite scripture verse and when Jesus said “whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto Me,” He clearly meant all who are weak, vulnerable, disenfranchised, including, political prisoners. In Matthew 25—Jesus also explicitly tells us to visit the prisoners! Have you, Rev. Walker?

Lincoln Diaz-Balart could barely hold back and in rapid fire district attorney-like manner, demanded to know with whom he, the Reverend, had met on those 40 visits and when. Within a minute or so, Rev. Walker bolted from the witness table before the hearing was over without providing an answer.

I chaired another hearing in 2005 and by phone inside of Cuba received testimony from Dr. Martha Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne, and Rene Manzano.

In response to a question on risk, Felix Bonne told the Committee “I am nothing more than a soldier for freedom and democracy.” I do not want to go back to prison—none of us do—but I would not hesitate if it was necessary to defend the rights of the Cuban people.”

I wondered then and now—where does that kind of courage come from?

Finally, let me say a brief word about President Bush—a trusted and tested friend of the Cuban people. In a highly visible show of solidarity a few weeks ago, President Bush met with family members of political prisoners. The President’s words were challenging, hope-filled and clear. He announced the Freedom Fund to assist the transition to democracy. He reiterated that the United States stands with the oppressed, not the oppressor.

On another occasion the President recently singled out Dr. Oscar Biscet—the OBGYN who exposed coerced abortion and who has fought valiantly for human rights and got 25 years in the gulag—and conveyed to him in abstentia the highest award America can bestow, the Medal of Freedom.

Dr. Biscet has said “I am innocent of the charges for which I was condemned which is why I will maintain my ideological position. A true man cannot betray himself, so I can only appeal to the living God and pray to our Lord. And He is not neutral and never abandons His Flock.”

Where does a man get such faith?

Victor Hugo once said “there is nothing as compelling as an idea whose time has come,” freedom, freedom, freedom, for the Cuban people---the time has come.

Posted by Henry Louis Gomez at December 21, 2007 04:04 PM

Comments

Posted by: castrodeathwatch at December 21, 2007 06:31 PM

Posted by: Tony V at December 25, 2007 02:47 PM