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FREE CUBA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Malliotakis) for 5 minutes.
Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to talk to you about why it is important to me and why it should be important to the American people that we support those in Cuba who are fighting right now for their future, for their freedom, for democracy, for human rights, and for dignity.
I am the daughter of a Cuban refugee. My mother came to this great country in 1959 to escape the oppression of the Castro regime. Sadly, my family had been split apart, and my grandfather had remained in Cuba to stay with his small businesses. He had two gas stations there, and the regime had come in and taken his businesses and his home. Unfortunately, my family never really reconnected.
As we look at what is happening right now in this island that is just 90 miles from our shore, it is incredibly important to note the role that Cuba has played in spreading communism and socialism throughout the Western Hemisphere. They have aligned themselves with the most dangerous nations--our adversaries--across the world from Iran to China to Venezuela to Russia and to North Korea. Mr. Speaker, you see them all right now at this moment propping up this Communist regime.
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We, the leader of the free world, must stand with the Cuban people at this moment. We have a moment in history that is very similar to what Ronald Reagan faced in 1987 with the Iron Curtain. This is our Berlin Wall moment. The people in Cuba, my family included, have suffered for six decades under a brutal murderous regime.
Tens of thousands of people have died at the hands of the Castro brothers. Many, many more have been jailed and beaten simply for peacefully protesting communism and wanting to live in freedom.
This regime has also played a very important role, unfortunately, in spreading communism in the Western Hemisphere, as I mentioned. We saw Venezuela, one of the richest nations in South America, be destroyed by Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro, propped up by the Castro regime. We see it going into Nicaragua, Bolivia, and even here in the United States of America.
And I can tell you, firsthand, in New York City, how painful it was to me to see the communist symbol, the hammer and sickle, painted on our government buildings last summer. If we end communism in Cuba, we end its spread in the Western Hemisphere. And that is what we as the American people, freedom-loving Americans, should be doing at this moment in time.
And there is a reason why the Cuban people are marching in the streets right now holding the American flag. It is because we are that symbol of freedom, that beacon of hope and opportunity, and we must rise to the occasion, garner support from our allies, democracies from all around the world, to put pressure on this illegitimate regime to exit.
One last thing I want to address is the issue of what some of my colleagues say is the embargo. It is unconscionable to me that we would have Members of Congress that would actually blame America for what is occurring in Cuba.
What people need to understand is they do business with nearly every country around the world, yet, nothing has changed in six decades. That is because everything that comes into this island, whether it is food, whether it is medicine, money, the regime takes it, and they use it to weaponize against their people. You either go along with their communist revolution or you get nothing, you starve. And that is the reality. So lifting the embargo will only further prop up this regime.
Mr. Speaker, I urge the President, I urge my colleagues, and there are Democrats and Republicans who do support Cuba at this moment, and especially those of us who are of Cuban descent. Let's have a Berlin moment here. Let's make history together. We need to just do it by encouraging democracies from around the world to join us, and we need our leadership to be extremely strong at this moment.
(English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)
Live free Cuba. We are with you. We hope to see liberty in Cuba soon.
Viva Cuba libre. Estamos contigo. Espero que vemos libertad pronto.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from New York will provide a translation of her remarks to the Clerk.
The Chair will remind all Members to maintain proper decorum in the Chamber.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 131
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