Ros-Lehtinen Calls for Antunez's Release

As Castro Regime Arrests & Beats Cuban Pro-Democracy Activist Jorge Luis Garcia Perez “Antunez” For Testifying Before the U.S. Senate, Ros-Lehtinen Condemns Dictatorship’s Actions & Urges Obama Administration To Get Tough On The Castro Brothers

Miami, Florida – Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) issued the following statement after the wife of a leading Cuban pro democracy activist reported that her husband, well known dissident Jorge Luis Garcia Perez “Antunez”, had been arrested and beaten up by Castro security forces over the weekend.

According to Yris Tamara Perez-Aguilera, Antunez was arrested on Saturday and brutally beaten until he became unconscious. Mrs. Perez-Aguilera has not heard from her husband since his arrest and beating which, she believes were in retaliation for Antunez’ testimony last week before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Said Ros-Lehtinen, “As the Obama Administration continues to engage and appease the dictators in Havana, Raul and Fidel Castro’s security forces are ruthlessly arresting and beating members of the peaceful dissident movement inside Cuba.

The arrest and beating of Jorge Luis Garcia Perez ‘Antunez’ over the weekend, the recent arbitrary arrests of hundreds of dissidents, and the continued imprisonment of American citizen Alan Gross should be a wakeup call for this Administration. How much more suffering and abuse must the Cuban people suffer at the hands of the Castro brothers before President Obama takes action?

I urge the President and his Administration to get tough on the Castro brothers. The inaction of the Administration is emboldening the Castro tyranny and endangering the lives of peaceful Cuban citizens who only wish for their human rights to be respected. The Obama policy of appeasement is a failure, and the Cuban people suffer the consequences.”