Supporting Cuban People

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of a free Cuba. As the Cuban people cry out to the free world for democracy, communism works relentlessly to silence their voices through violence and censorship.

Among my best friends growing up in Arkansas were the wonderful Villalon family, who fled Cuba and escaped the tyranny of Castro. I was best friends with the kids in elementary school. The father of the family was a leader in our church and our Boy Scout troop, and the mother was my Spanish teacher.

The Villalon family had the opportunity to grow up in a free country, one that provided jobs, opportunities, and freedoms that every human should have access to. Unfortunately for my friends in Arkansas, it took them fleeing their homeland and escaping the grips of communism to get a taste of the freedoms that we Americans enjoy each and every day.

During my career I have seen firsthand the systematic destruction of commerce, community, and human spirit by communism.

So, Madam Speaker, I stand with the Cuban people, and I call on our Nation's leaders to do what we can to support a new and free Cuba.

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