Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Hildebrandt International Human Rights Award
Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr.

 

Berlin, December 12, 2007.

 

As prepared for delivery.

  

 

Mrs. Hildebrandt, Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

It is an honor and a privilege to participate in this ceremony representing the American people.  Two days ago, on December the 10th, people around the world observed Human Rights Day.  It was on that day in 1948 that the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  In 1948, the future of freedom seemed bleak, with only a small number of democracies around the world.  Today, citizens of over 100 nations enjoy the blessings of democracy.  Freedom is taking root in places where liberty had been unimaginable. 

 

The fall of the Berlin Wall was a triumph of freedom over those who denied hope and opportunity to millions.  It ushered in a new era of liberty for much of Central and Eastern Europe.  The Checkpoint Charlie Museum documents both the repression and the triumph over tyranny that were symbolized so dramatically by the Berlin Wall.  The Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Medal is a very fitting commemoration of his life work at the museum.  It is also testament to the spirit that helped bring the Wall down and reunite Germany.    The fall of the Berlin Wall is a reminder of one of the basic lessons of history:  Eventually every regime that denies fundamental freedoms and human rights will deteriorate. 

 

That message also rings true in Latin America.  Over the past decades, the Western Hemisphere has moved forward in significant ways: economically, politically and culturally.  There is one very dramatic exception.  Under the Castro dictatorship, Cuba has moved backward. 

 

Cuba's rulers promised individual liberty.  Instead they deny basic rights that the free world takes for granted.  In Cuba it is illegal to change jobs, to change houses, to travel abroad, and to read certain books or magazines without the express approval of the state. 

It is against the law for more than three Cubans to meet without permission. Neighborhood Watch programs do not look out for criminals. Instead, they monitor their fellow citizens.  Cuba's rulers promised an era of economic advancement. Instead they brought generations of economic misery.  Instead of freedom of the press, they have closed down private newspapers and radio and television stations. They've jailed and beaten journalists, raided their homes, and seized their paper, ink and fax machines. One Cuban journalist asked foreigners who visited him for one thing: a pen.

 

Cuba's rulers promised "absolute respect for human rights." Instead they offered Cubans a police state. Hundreds of people are serving long prison sentences for political offenses such as the crime of "dangerousness” -- people such as Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet  and Normando Hernández, who we are recognizing this evening.  To the Cuban dictatorship, these are "dangerous men."   They are dangerous in the same way that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi were dangerous.  They are both honest, decent men of convictions.

 

It is important that we speak out and recognize their commitment and their sacrifice. Awards such as these are public proclamations to the people of Cuba that they can count on our friendship and support.  The people of Cuba deserve freedom, dignity and true social justice.  We share the dream of a better tomorrow for them and their families.

 

In November, President Bush awarded Dr. Biscet the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civil honor that a President can bestow.  Oscar Biscet is a physician, a community organizer, and an advocate for human rights.  He represents what the Cuban authorities fear the most: an undaunted commitment to liberty.  For speaking the truth Dr. Biscet has endured repeated harassment, beatings, and detentions.  In captivity for all but 36 days of the last eight years, he has continued to embody courage and dignity.   In 2003, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.  The prosecution was the most severe he has had to endure since 1986, when he first publicly declared himself an opponent of the dictatorship.   The international community agrees that his imprisonment is unjust, yet the regime has refused every call for his release.  

 

Dr. Biscet’s son accepted the Medal of Freedom on his father’s behalf at the White House.  Oscar Elias Biscet’s wife watched the ceremony via video conference from Havana.  She read a statement by Biscet, saying that the award belonged to all Cuban political prisoners.  I am sure he would say the same about the Hildebrandt Medal this evening.   Dr. Biscet has often said that he drew his inspiration from people like Martin Luther King, Jr.   By honoring him – here this evening and last month at the White House – we are reminded of the truth of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King: “an injustice anywhere is an affront to justice everywhere.''

 

Like Dr. Biscet, Normando Hernández was imprisoned in 2003.  Charged with spying and threatening national security, he was also sentenced to a 25 year sentence.  His crime?  Reporting on the conditions of state-run services in Cuba and for criticizing the government’s management of tourism, agriculture, fishing and cultural affairs.  The head of a group of journalists who tried to create an alternative to the state-controlled Cuban media, Hernandez was one of 75 journalists arrested in the Cuban government crackdown on the press in March 2003.  While in prison, he has refused to renounce his commitment to freedom of expression and other essential human rights in Cuba.  Both the United States and the European Union were outraged by these abuses.  The European Union imposed diplomatic sanctions which remain in place today.

 

Normando Hernández was awarded the 2007 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award on April 30.  His mother, Blanca González, who lives in Miami, traveled to New York to accept the award on his behalf.  She read a message from her son because, like Dr. Biscet, Hernández also could not accept the award in person.  He recognized “all those who languish between walls of terror for exercising a right as noble as the right to write."   The aim of the 2007 award was to send a message to the Cuban government that the world has not forgotten about Hernández.  International pressure has led the Cuban government to release 16 of the original 75 prisoners.  But there are still many Cuban independent thinkers, journalists, librarians, and academics who remain in prison. 

 

The United States knows how much the Cuban people are suffering.  Over the years, U.S. asylum has been granted to hundreds of thousands who have fled the repression and misery imposed by the regime.  The German people will instantly recognize what it means when friends and neighbors are forced to flee a repressive dictatorship; why families are split.  We stand here in a museum full of evidence. 

 

Private citizens and organizations have been authorized to provide food, medicine, and other aid.  That aid goes directly into the hands of the Cuban people.  Cuba's regime uses the U.S. embargo as a scapegoat for Cuba's miseries but the heart of our policy is focused on the absolute control that the regime holds over the material resources that the Cuban people need to live and to prosper and to have hope. 

 

President Bush has announced a new initiative to develop an international multi-billion dollar Freedom Fund for Cuba. This fund would help the Cuban people rebuild their economy and make the transition to democracy.  The Cuban government must, however, demonstrate that it has adopted fundamental freedoms. 

 

We will know there will be a new Cuba when opposition parties have the freedom to organize, assemble and speak with equal access to the airwaves.  We will know there will be a new Cuba when a free and independent press has the power to operate without censors.  We will know there will be a new Cuba when the Cuban government removes its stranglehold on private economic activity.  Above all, we will know there will be a new Cuba when authorities go to the prisons where people are being held for their beliefs and set them free.  It will be a time when the families of Oscar Elias Biscet and Normando Hernández are reunited with their loved ones.  It will be a moment when Cubans of conscience are released from their shackles –not as a gesture or a tactic, but because the government no longer puts people in prison because of what they think, say, or believe.

 

Until that time, the United States remains committed to the advance of freedom in Cuba by supporting in word and deed brave individuals, like Oscar Elias Biscet and Normando Hernández, who keep the hope for democracy among the Cuban people alive.  Many experts once said that that day could never come to Eastern Europe.  Here in Germany, we saw that tyranny can indeed be overpowered by people who stand up for the right to live their lives freely. 

On behalf of the Embassy of the United States, it is an honor and a privilege to join you this evening to honor Oscar Elias Biscet and Normando Hernandez for their courage and devotion to freedom and human rights.  May God bless them.