Rafael Diaz-Balart's long fight for Cuba - (asks why we put up with butchering regimes like this!)

JEWISH WORLD REVIEW.COM ^ | MAY 18, 2005 | Kathryn Lopez

[CHARLITE]

The Diaz-Balarts were out of the country when Castro took over and after Castro burned their house to the ground they never returned, getting that message loud and clear. Living in Florida, Rafael was a leader of the Castro opposition, and taught his sons to love freedom through word and deed.

The commitment runs so deep in the Diaz-Balart blood that speaking of their Cuba and other tyrannies, like China, Lincoln said in a 2003 interview with the National Review: "I feel almost embarrassed for the human race that we just sit here and accept regimes like that."

As members of Congress (Lincoln was elected in 1992, Mario in 2002), the sons have helped form a new bipartisan, bicameral Cuba Democracy Caucus in Congress, "to promote discussion and proactive policymaking in order to hasten Cuba's transition, Cuba's change to a free and democratic society."

So far, eight senators and 17 congressmen from 10 states have signed up. On the top of their to-do list is reaching out to Cuba's pro-democracy movement, strengthening its independent media, and opposing U.S. legislation that would ease trade and tourism embargos on the authoritarian regime.

As the United States has stepped up efforts to penetrate beyond our station at Guantanamo Bay, pamphlets including translations of President Bush's second inaugural address have been making the rounds in Cuba. In January, Bush said, "Democratic reformers facing repression, prison or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country."

[CHARLITE]

"As Florida Republican congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart once said, "For the life of me, I just don't know how Castro can seem cute after 40 years of torturing people." Castro not only tortures and executes, he also holds a special disdain for blacks and gays, which is why much of Cuba's dissident movement is black."

[Mama Shawna]

BTTT