“Their testimonies are a forceful reminder of the suffering of more than 1,100 political prisoners in Cuba,” said the congressman.
MADRID, Spain.- The American congressman Mario Díaz-Balart held a recent meeting with several Cuban exile figures who spent years in prison for political reasons. As reported by the legislator himself in a publication in the social networkAna Lázara Rodríguez, Ángel de Fana, José Daniel Ferrer, Maritza Lugo and the musician Eliécer Márquez Duany, known as The Funky.
“I met with former Cuban political prisoners Ana Lazara Rodríguez, Ángel de Fana, José Daniel Ferrer, Maritza Lugo and El Funky, who bravely shared their stories of persecution, imprisonment and resistance under the brutal and murderous regime in Cuba,” Díaz-Balart wrote.
The congressman stated that the testimonies heard are a forceful reminder of the situation of prisoners for political reasons on the island. “…more than 1,100 political prisoners who are still unjustly detained in Cuba,” he noted.
Díaz-Balart called to maintain international pressure on the Cuban government: “The international community must continue to demand their freedom and remain firm in their solidarity with the Cuban people, who will be free and will remember those who remained by their side.”
The legislator also reported on a meeting with nine European Union ambassadors and several deputy heads of mission, in which he claimed to have presented “the priorities of the funding bill for National Security and the State Department, including accountability to countries that vote against the national security interests of the United States in the UN or other international organizations.”
Likewise, he expressed his recognition towards countries that have shown a critical stance towards the Cuban government in multilateral organizations. Díaz-Balart said he was “especially grateful” to nations such as Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Argentina, Israel, North Macedonia, Paraguay and Ukraine, “for rejecting the propaganda of the Cuban regime in the United Nations and for standing in solidarity with the Cuban people in their fight for freedom and with the national security interests of the United States.”
Díaz-Balart, a Republican representative from Florida, has remained among the most active voices in Washington advocating a policy of sustained pressure on Havana.
