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Dan Robinson. Capitol Hill, 8 May 2002 22:17 UTC.
Voice Of America News.
U.S. lawmakers are again drawing attention to the plight of political
prisoners in Cuba.
Sixteen members of the House and Senate have joined together in what is
called the Congressional Cuban Political Prisoners Initiative to call attention
to political prisoners in Cuba.
"Each of us, as members of Congress, have symbolically adopted a Cuban
person who has been jailed for their love of freedom, and for their love of
democracy," said Republican Congressman Chris Smith, a member of the House
International Relations Committee. "Each month we will feature a new
prisoner, each month we will a highlight a new name and a new life story, to
strike down that big lie that there are no political prisoners in Cuba."
Congressman Smith said anyone in Cuba demanding respect and rights of
freedom of expression and association are "brutalized, tortured and
imprisoned."
At Wednesday's news conference, posters containing photographs of 12 Cuban
political prisoners were displayed. They are among some 400 people human rights
organizations say are jailed in Cuba for their political beliefs or activities.
Three former Cuban political prisoners, now democracy activists, appeared at
the news conference. One of them is Maritza Lugo Fernandez, who was jailed 30
times in Cuba before being exiled earlier this year.
"The members of Congress who have adopted the political prisoners are
sending a message to Cuba and the entire world," she said. "They are
demonstrating that the political prisoners in Cuba, their family members, as
well as the opposition, are not alone."
Maritza Lugo's husband is Rafael Ibarra Roque, who is serving a 20-year
prison sentence in Cuba for promoting democracy.
Lawmakers are urging former president Jimmy Carter, who will soon visit
Cuba, to raise human rights violations and political prisoners with President
Fidel Castro, and to visit Cuban prisons. Congresswoman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a
Republican from Florida, said, "We urge the former president as we have
done through repeated correspondence with him, to travel to the interior of the
island to meet with the true dissidents, rather than with the regime-sponsored
groups."
Former president Carter arrives in Cuba Sunday on a five-day visit at the
invitation of President Castro. Officials at the Carter Center in Atlanta say
they expect Mr. Carter to meet with human rights activists during his five-day
stay. | 
