that I love and respect in the freest, most prosperous country in the world. For this, I owe eternal gratitude to my parents because after Fidel Castro's murderous revolution, my parents had to leave with $5 in their pocket. That was a hard-wrenching choice because they knew the word socialism and communism meant. Since then, the regime has claimed they have created a system of equality with free housing and free food and free education and free everything. It's pure propaganda. The only quality communism offers, it's being equally poor, equally hungry, equally oppressed, and equally exiled. The truth is communism is a cancer and it has devastated not only Cuba but Venezuela, North Korea, China, Russia. The medical are not existent. The supermarkets are empty. The homes were collapsing around. The people that live in them. The doctors in Cuba, the doctors, and the engineers, and the nurses. They're now taxi drivers, hotel staff because the tourist dollars, pay a lot more in one day than the government jobs phase in one month. So, that is communism in action. So, why are we here today and I once again, thank all of you for being here with us. We're here because we have important mission. We have to educate our students, our future generations, the leaders of tomorrow about the true meaning of communism. And that is precisely what this bill that I'm going to be introducing today with 60 other members of Congress. This is called the crucial communism teaching act or the CCT. And what is this going to do? They're going to show the principles of freedom, opportunity, and democracy. Because Unfortunately, today, we're seeing an alarming shift in our national conscience. I'm not sure if you know that one third of the Gen Z or my two kids belong to, the Gen Z, those are young adults, have a favorable view of communism, 3-three percent, and over 40% of the millennials which are the ones that came before, Gen Z, say they don't know much about Marxism or what it looks like. Well, let me tell you what it looks like. Over hundred million people worldwide have died under the brutal regimes. The brutal practices of the communist regime. As I said, Russia, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, now, Nicaragua. and in Columbia if Pedro, Gustavo Pedro wins the presidency. As I said of the daughter of Cuban exiles, I'm proud to introduce this bill. This legislation will build a social, I'm sorry, this legislation will build a school curriculum to teach our future generations, the true meaning of communism. So, the future generations will understand and learn what this tragic reality looks like. History has shown that communism has no place in the United States. This is an indispensable lesson and this is why I am proud to champion with all of them this important bill. This is not what America stands for. And I'm calling on my colleagues to join me today to educate our children, our future generations, and to preserve our core values. But not only the colleagues in the Republican Party. I am calling my colleagues in the Democratic Party. To join this bill and to help us pass this school curriculum all over the country. So our kids could really know what my parents had to go. I thank you all of you. We'll get some bites later. But let me let me allow for some of my colleagues to speak to you as well. Ambassador Andrew Renberg is next. Thank you once again. Thank you. Alright. Good morning. My name is Andrew Bremberg and I am the president of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Uh VOC is a non-partisan organization that was chartered by congress in 1993. And signed by President Clinton to memorialize and educate Americans about the victims of communism. We were pleased to commemorate and dedicate a national memorial to all 100 million victims of communism in two thousand seven next year, we will be opening a the first victims of communism museum here in Washington, DC. I want to thank Representative Salazar for her leadership and all the wonderful members of Congress who have co-sponsored this important bill and we like to urge all members of congress to pass this legislation. Over the past century, communist Italitarian regimes in some forty nations have killed more than 100 million people. And subjected countless more to exploitation, violence, and untold devastation. These victims were shot dead in the Bolshovik Revolution. They were starved in the Holiday More, Ukraine, famine. They were worked to death in the Soviet Gulags. They were exiled to Siberia in the Baltic deportations. They were executed on Cuba's Isle of Pines. And they've been beaten to death. Under China's cultural revolution. They drowned fleeing Vietnam. And their littered Cambodia in the desolate killing fields. Although the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed, one fifth of the world's population today is still suffering under communist regimes. In Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, the horrors of socialism and communism continue and today, you will hear first-hand witness accounts of those who have been tortured and abused by these regimes. in China. The Chinese Communist Party is committing genocide against Muslims and other religious and ethnic minorities. Up to 3 million Muslims are today in the twenty-first century. Held captive in concentration camps. A majority of women are being forcibly sterilized and weager men are being forced into modern day slavery. Yet the majority of a young Americans simply do not know the history of communist regimes. Those both past and present. They don't know the simple fact that 100 million people have been victims of communism. Or no. About the destruction and deaths it has wrought. So it's understandable why some young people think they're sporting a a cool T-shirt with Shay Guevara thinking he's a hero. When in fact he was a violent murderer. According to one of our recent polls one in three millennials view communism as favorable. That is why this crucial communism teaching act is so important. Americans must learn about the crimes of communist regimes and about the legacy of those champions of freedom who have resisted and defe communist tyranny. The introduction of this bill today follows the success we've already had in the state of Florida where Governor DeSantis signed the portraits in patriotism bill that requires all Florida high schools to educate their students about communism and we will continue to work across all 50 states to ensure that all young Americans are taught the truth about the victims of communism. Thank you again for having me today. Thank you for your leadership on this important bill. Thank you. Thank you. To you ambassador. let me give the opportunity to Representative Crenshaw. Wonderful to have you here. Thank you, Maria. Please, absolutely. Thank you all for being here. Thank you all for your leadership on this. Um nineteen eighty-4, there was a man named Yuri Besmanoff. He gave an interview to G Edward Griffin. It was titled Deception Was My Job. It detailed his time as a KGB officer for the Soviet Union and had what he had to say was shocking. He revealed that if 85% of the KGB's budget is allocated for the purpose of undermining our political system through information warfare. Not the cool spy stuff you see on TV but information warfare using our free society against itself to amplify divisions, undermine faith in our economic in our political system and amplify the useful idiots on our own side who want to destroy our country. I don't think the Soviets ever imagined how successful they'd actually be. From the Marxist infused radicalism of the 60s to the critical race theory trends of today. I don't think the Soviets get of imagined a better ally than the Democrat socialist of America today. Some of which currently serve in our congress. Some of which currently teach our children or perform for millions on television or currently run major corporations. And so it's no that a recent survey of millennials found that 36% have a favorable view of communism. 70 percent say they would actually vote for a socialist. And it's no wonder that the murder is Cuban and Venezuelan regimes find sympathy in the American population. Because other citizens have been lied to for generations about the dangers of communism and told that the American system is built on lies and racism. So they become socialists. Because they've been conditioned that way. In the halls of Congress and on the campaign trail in an academia. We're here for flirtations with socialism. Real socialism has never been tried, they say. They leave out the part where socialist equality is equality and misery and deprivation, nothing else. They leave out the part where the Utopia they seek must be paid for in blood and death in the tens of millions. Our children don't know these horrors because they've never been taught. So, we must change that. America's students should learn about the Soviet Gulags and Stalin purposely starved three and a half million Ukrainians. They should learn about Miles, great leap forward in cultural revolution that killed tens of millions of Chinese. We should learn about the modern day slavery happening in China right now at the Muslims. They should learn about the Cambodian killing fields, the brutality of the Easter Menstasi, and the plight of the people suffering under North Korea for the last 70 years. Students should know that their classmate, wearing a cool Chegavara T shirt, is not being sheep. They're actually idolizing and promoting a mass murderer who also happened to be a racist and a homophobe. These are inconvenient truths but they are truths. We need to provide America's schools with the tools they need to get and the parents the tools they need to give their kids an alternative to Marxist indoctrination, and ideology that's currently being taught. America's parents deserve to have a say in what their children learn in school and I believe parents rather have their children learn to love America and hate communism than the other way around. That's what this bill does. Ensures students know the lessons of history so that our next generation does not repeat them. It will ensure communism remains in the trash sheep of history where it belongs. Thank you. Excellent. Now, Representative Waltz. Here's the bottom line. What I think you're going to hear from Representative Salazar and so many so many of us here is that communism kills. Communism has killed more than any other ideology in world history. Communism is killed more than fascism, communism is killed more than imperialism, more than any other form of government, communism has killed, and communism in order for it to work has to lead to authoritarianism. It has to and it always has and it always will. And whenever we have a segment of society that learns through blood and through authoritarianism that no matter how hard they work, no matter how hard they sacrifice, what they risk, no matter what they do. That government will take from them and then you have another segment of society that learns that no matter how little they work, government will give to them, that is the death of freedom and that's what happens under commun because at the end of the day, you must have an authoritarian regime to decide who those winners are and who those losers are. And gee, it should be no surprise that that authoritarian regime always throughout history and always will, puts themselves first as the winners. And that's why in every communist regime, you see the regime enriching itself before the people that they're supposed to serve. Look, I think this bill is long overdue. I applaud you for it. Uh many of us who grew up in the Cold War learned and understood the threat that communism was and since the end of that cold war, I think that is really waned in our society and in certainly in our schools but now, we are in a new cold war with a new communist regime in the Chinese communist party and we need to wake up to the threat that it is. Uh I'm a Green Beret. The Green Berets were founded under John F. Kennedy. He knew that there would be groups of freedom fighters around the world that needed our help. The motto of the Green Berets is De Opresso Libert to free the oppressed and whether that was in Yugoslavia, whether that was in South and Central America. Everywhere that communism thrived, we had leadership in this city. We have leadership in the White House that committed Americans in to go help those freedom fighters. But the fight starts here. And as Representative Crenshaw said, we talk a lot these days about what's taught in our schools. About having a clear eye and clear teaching of history. Whether it's the plight of native Americans or racism or slavery. We need that same clear eyed approach to the history of communism. And the threat that it is. And I'm proud to support you. I thank you for your leadership. And we will this fight. And that I hand over to Going up. And Buddy Park. Thank you Representative Walton. I want to thank Representative Salazar for for putting this together and for sponsoring this legislation. Let's not lose sight of the fact that it's someone who's family suffered under communism who is the lead sponsor of this legislation. That is significant. That should be noted. Folks, I'm a father of three sons. I'm the grandfather of six grandchildren. What our children think, what they, what they learn is important. It's important to me. Today's youth, they they're not fearful of communism. They look upon communism. Favorably. Now, who's to blame for that? Our teaching, that's to blame for it, our media is to blame for it. Ultimately, all of us are to blame for it. And all of us have the inherent responsibility of making sure that this doesn't happen. Making sure that they understand. I mean, think about it now about what's going on in China. We all know about the genocide that goes on there. We all know that they are suppressing their people over there and yet, we're fixing to come up on the winter Olympics and you can be assured that it will be glamorous. People will be tuned in to their TVs, watching all these great events. It will be a media spectacle. No question about it. But what's going on outside of that? What's going on in that country? That's what's important. It's important for us to make sure our children understand. That's why I'm proud. I'm proud to be a co-sponsor of this legislation. The crucial communism teaching act. This will help us to educate our children, to teach them that communism is not the answer. That here in America, we enjoy the freedoms of a free country. You think they're having a press conference like this in China now? And I know, by the way, what about the tennis player? I want to take this opportunity to applaud the women's tennis association for what they're doing. We need to get to bottom of this. Folks, this is serious. I know. Another press conference. No, it's not another press conference. This is an important press conference. Extremely important. What's being done here is extremely important. Remember what Ronald Reagan said in his inaugural address. Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance. It must be fought for in defended constantly by each by each generation For it comes only once to a people. Let's not fear, let's not fail this generation. Let's do our job. Let's be responsible. Thank you, Representative Salazar. I'm proud to stand by my colleagues here in support of this. proud of all of you for standing here with us and saving our future generations. Now, Representative Miller Meeks, the tallest member in congress. Thank you so much Maria. I'm Marionette Miller Makes and I represent Iowa's second congressional district in congress and I really would first like to thank my good friend, Congresswoman Salazar for organizing today's press conference and for incredible leadership on this extremely important issue. From the error to the fall of the Soviet Union, I proudly served in the United States Army. I watched this communism spread across the world during the Cold War. From the Soviet Union and East Germany to China and Cuba and every country in which communism has taken hold. It has seen the individual liberties of its citizens taken away. Censoring free speech breach, restricting or banning religious liberty, and exerting total control. Over private industries, leaving their people in poverty and brutalized. for those who have seen the damage done by communism first hand, we must never forget the millions who have suffered. And if you, like I, have toured college campuses or have had children at a college campus, they talked extensively and glowingly about the most important skill in a global economy is critical thinking. And we in our school system talk eloquently about the excesses and the demerits of capitalism. But we never talked about the excess the brutality, and the murder of communist regimes and why they have continued to fail. And if we're going to have critical thinking in our young adults and in our citizens, then they have to be taught both points of view. And it is the equitable and fair thing to do. Because if we in the United States do not stand for liberty, for entrepreneurship, for competitiveness, for innovation. There is no place on the world. And I can tell you from traveling extensively in the military. As my colleague said and done and personally that there is no place in the world that these exist if we do not continue to be their champion. We must ensure that our next generation is well educated in the dangers of this radical ideology. I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of the Crucial Communism Teaching Act and I thank everyone for being here today and especially my colleague Congresswoman Salazar. Thanks to all of you once again. Thank you. Now, Representative Crawford. Thank you. I I want to echo the sentiments that have been expressed here by my colleagues and just add a couple of things. Proud to support this legislation but the real travesty is the fact that it's necessary. The fact that we've gone 30 plus years and forgotten the brutalities of communism because when the wall came down, it was time to celebrate and we could look to the future and unfortunately, we forgotten the lessons of communism in our children. Now 30 years removed from that historic event. Have forgotten about it and you heard one of my colleagues mention how communism kills and I agree with that but communism doesn't it's not always a a quick death. I was in Cuba a few years ago. Had my taxi driver. I said take me to the best grocery store in Havana. And I found out that the taxi driver was in fact a medical doctor. And he was driving a taxi to make a living. And that's how he earned his cash. Because being a medical didn't pay and he took me to the best grocery store in Havana and I'm going to tell you, I wouldn't take my dog to that grocery store. This was the best one in Havana and it was empty shelves and what was there wasn't fit to feed our dogs. So, communism kills, yes. But some of those that suffer under the communist regime, they die a slow and painful death. And so, as sad as statement as it is today, that we have to engage in legislation to teach things that we should already know. I'm proud to be a part of this legislation. I support the leadership of my colleague Maria Salazar. Thank you. Thanks, Junior. Representative Hill. That's perfect. Thanks. French Hill, I represent the second congressional district in Arkansas and I'm proud to stand here with my friend from Florida, Congresswoman Salazar, Ambraster Bremberg because this is an important day. Let me tell you why. Opening here in Washington DC, a museum for the victims of communism. Combined with this legislation to make sure that our teachers and our kids have access to the facts of the dis of health, welfare, mental health, and physical health of these citizens living under these authoritarian communist dictatorships is the first step and I hope not the last step in ending the culture that we have in this country of Neville Chamberlain level abdication of education. That's what we've done. We've abdicated teaching these lessons. We've abdicated exposing our kids to this and so, as somebody who while people were being murdered in the cultural revolution in China, I was under my desk in my elementary school fearing a nuclear attack. By those millions of Chinese people were taken to camps in the cultural revolution and murdered, those of us at the same age in our country were under our desks fearing a nucle attack from the Russian Soviet Union communist regime. I've been to East Berlin and West Berlin at the height of the Cold War. When you cross Checkpoint Charlie in 1986 and leave West Berlin, you went into the twilight zone. You went into a desolate bombed out nothing on the shelves, the people, the cars, the buildings, it was a movie set. From end of the world because in that 40 years from 1945 to 1986, West Berlin became one of the most extraordinary cities in the world with freedom, capitalism, opportunity, and just across the barbed wire was destitution, poverty, authoritarianism. Our kids need to learn that lesson. They didn't have shows and it's Whitaker Chambers, William F Buckley that I had in my childhood. This bill changes that. This bill bill ends that abdication and I thank my friend from Florida and all of our colleagues for the support. Representative Van Drew The first one unlike everybody else commend Representative Salazar for doing this. This is of extreme importance and I'll tell you why. We we understand and we see the extremes of communism. We know what it's like to see the tanks rolling down in China. We know to see Russia build its arms and forces up at the border. We understand what they're doing. But what is also important and is amazing is that we even have have this press conference. I am almost shocked that we have to have it. Yet, it is necessary to think only a short number of years ago, we would almost laugh at the idea that we have to have a press conference to explain to our young people that communism isn't good, that communism will destroy our country but that is where we are at and there is a reason. Let's talk about the subtleties of what's happening to this country. We're taking the names of great men out of our cities and out of our towns. I was named after Thomas Jefferson. My name is Jefferson Van Drew. I named my son, Jefferson Vandrew. Jefferson was a great man. He was a product of his time but he was still a great man. In New York City, they took his bus down All across this country. We're taking the names of great leaders, of fighters for freedom, of individuals, men and women who bled and fought and stood for this country. We have people in congress. We have people Congress who really don't believe in the American way, don't believe in American freedom, don't believe in American independence. It's subtle. It's not even that subtle anymore to be honest with you. It's pretty obvious. So, we see all this around us. We know that in the universities, if you have a very pro-American stance or a conservative viewpoint, you probably won't get a chance to speak. You probably won't get to give a commencement address. Let's really tell it how it is. This country is at the precipice. We are on the edge. And this is a big piece of it. We are going to have to decide that either that we are the America that we know and love or that we're going to change. Many professors, many universities, many educational systems want us to change. And what we all are talking about is we're trying to make it clear to our children and our grandchildren. That if we make this change all the wonderful freedoms all the greatness, the freedom to have your own faith, the freedom to do well in your own economy, the freedom to believe in whatever it is you want to accomplish in your life and your freedom to raise your family the way you want to and to say what you want to and to do what you want to. You shouldn't take that for granted. every time I go into a classroom or speak to a group. I speak about American exceptionalism and American exceptional says that a murder is better. It's different. It's the greatest country in the world. I will say to you right now, America is the greatest country this world has ever seen. It is the greatest country on the face literally of the earth and we love Ronald Reagan and one of his other great statements was besides loss of of freedom was only one generation away. He spoke about the shining city on the hill. So, the bottom line, it's up to us. There's nobody else. It's up to all of you in media. It's up to me and all these good folks here that represent people in the United States Congress and in the United States Senate, it's up to parents. Parents call me up sometimes. They say, I'm upset. I don't even know what to do. The way the country is moving and what is happening and I say, you know, one of the most important things you can do when your children or your grandchildren, when they come home, look at what they're learning and if they're not learning about freedom, if they're not learning about what happened in Cuba. If they're not learning what happens in China, if they're not learning what happens in North Korea, then you better make sure that you teach them. It is now our responsibility. Nobody else, every single one of you, it's in your hands. Take that responsibility and grasp it for all the men and women who died and bled and and gave so much to this country for the great leaders of the past and I swear I hope the great leaders of the future. I thank you doing this. God bless you. It's my duty. Very well said. Give me very much. Representative Groffman. Thank you. Uh we stand here today. Uh I'd like to thank Congresswoman Salazar for this bill. In my opinion, as I go through all the bills we've talked about in congress so far this session. This is the most important bill. And I say that because we've heard the statistics today of over one third of the young people actually think socialism and maybe Marxism isn't that bad. And it's somebody here pointed out, a Soviet Defector said that most of the KGB money spent in this country was spent to change America's view of itself. In other words, they were going to conquer this country, not with ships or tanks from abroad. They were going to conquer it from within. And when you see 30 percent of the population wanting or not understanding what is wrong with the country like Cuba, you realize we are losing that war. Every American child should know that communism is they dislike the churches. They dislike that. The reason they don't like that is because they feel the churches create a moral background in which people will be reluctant to kill people if the government calls upon them to kill people. People have to know. You restrict travel in communism. You restrict information. There are all sorts of people out there which kind of have the heart of a communist. We know right now today. Who do run a restricted information, right? And our our ear should perk up. Wait a minute, we got people out here who think the way to wait for mayor to go forward is restrict information. They obviously want to abolish ownership of things Um Carl Marks was very anti family. Sometimes they haven't got all the way there but we have to be on the lookout for that. It is very scary. When organizations founded by Marxists are able to attract politicians from congress to stand with that's a big danger sign and of course, ultimately, after you destroy the churches or take over the churches, after you restrict travel, after you restrict the flow of information, finally, in some cases, communism leads to mass murder and every American child should understand what happened in Red China, in Ukraine, in Russia, in Cambodia, in Cuba, every American child should know that but they don't know it. So, I'm glad we have this bill. I hope every state around the country does what they can to educate their young children about what we have in religion, what we have in freedom of children, freedom of religion, what will happen, Uh their goal for the family and how they want to have you know the children raised more and more by the government and less than us by the family. So, I hope this bill moves forth and I hope state legislators around the country are paying attention to this bill and they do what they do in Florida and make sure every American child knows. What Marxism and communism is about. Thank you Congresswoman Salazar and We're hoping to hear Fast, yes. And now, finally, Representative Jacobs. Uh, thank you very much, Congresswoman and and ambassador it is an honor to be here. Truly an honor. I, I, I'm honored to co-sponsor this legislation. One reason I'm here today is for my wife and or her family who escaped what was the Czechoslovaki at the time when she was four years old, and her brother was two years old. Uh, they escaped it took one one suitcase each said they're going on a weekend vacation and never came back. Uh there I and uncle tried to do the same thing the next week and were captured in in jailed. Uh in talking with my wife's father about his experiences and why he was so passionate about coming to the United States and getting out of communism. He talked about the fact that you know, it doesn't happen overnight usually as was mentioned here. Uh they take your freedoms away bit by bit before you know it. It's all gone. So, why this is so important that we're doing this today. Uh for the last century, communism is left and ugly and and deadly legacy in the world. Since its creation, over 100 million people worldwide have died at the hands of communists and countless more of starved, tortured, and persecuted. We saw it under the tyranny of veteran, Miles State Tongue, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro. Today, we still see the dangers of communism in China under the rule of the communist party there. As we stand here today, millions of weagers are are facing religious persecution, slavery, and execution. The threat of communism is real and is important. We have the tools in place to combat it. This legislation is not a mandate but to develop a comprehensive curriculum and creates material so states, local governments, and schools have access to quality resources to teach about communism in the classroom. I want to thank again Congresswoman for her leadership on this issue ensuring that the next generation is armed with the facts that will help combat the rising threat of China and further protect the world from the horrors of communism. Thank you. Thanks to all of you. And thanks to all the members who joined us and to the news media. You know that after 35 years that was a journalist just like you. So I call upon you because you have a civil and a and a duty. Duty to report the news the way it is and what's happening. Report what's happening in Congress and the threat of communism and democratic socialism. That it's reaping upon the creeping up on this country. So, just wanted to thank you and ask you to join the American Exceptionality. Continue doing your job the way you've done it and understand that we need to spread this message through the news organization. So, I want to thank all of you once again for having stayed, for having covered this press conference. Thanks again. What are you telling me? I can't understand that. You're the next speaker, okay? I'm sorry. John Suarez, I didn't see you, John. I was here but I think that I should give you the opportunity I that you were going to be. John Suarez, the executive director at the Center for Free Cuba. If I know the horrors of communism, they know it better because they do it every day and they they are here to report and I'm delighted to give the opportunity for you to talk to who's meeting. Thank you very much Congressman. Thank you very much for this initiative. It is an important one The Castro Dictatorship with decades of experience in imposing a dictatorship that Cubans never wanted. Uh Fidel Castro promised to restore democracy in Cuba after Bautista took Cuba down the the way of dictatorship. And instead of restoring democracy, he imposed a communist dictatorship. He did it through through lobbying despite what the communist would have you believed, the Castro brothers lobbied the US State Department to place an arms embargo on Fujinso Bautista in March of nineteen fifty-eight and US diplomats pressured Bautista out in December of nineteen fifty-eight with the belief that there would be a Democratic restoration in Cuba. The Del Castro claimed that he would be restoring democracy While he was terrorizing Cubans first, edit of newspapers, shutting down newspapers, setting up execution squads, mass executions, and imposing a terror on the island and he used that to consolidate a communist dictatorship that has been ruling Cuba for the past 62 years. And we've heard about a bit of that today but in addition to what he's done inside of Cuba. Um and there was a talk about the supermarket. Prior to Fidel Castro, Cubans were able to feed themselves. With the with the centralized communist agricultural practices to Castro regime. Eighty cent of Cuba Street today is imported. And the cash regime would have you believe that it is due to US sanctions that there are difficulties in Cuba with regards to food. The reality is that the chicken, the Cubans are eating today in Cuba comes from Arkansas. The reason that Cubans cannot grow their own food and sell it to the Cuban people is because of the communist economic policies that the dictatorship. Farmers today in Cuba, when they farm, first they have to buy their supplies and dollar the regime forces into solid and pesos which is worthless but they don't allow them to sell it to Cuban people. They have to sell it to Cuban government agencies called Ocopios and when they don't show up on time, the food rots and that happens regularly and that's why they end up to import the food from outside but in addition to the horrors that they visit upon Cuban's inside, it's also important to talk about what Cuban's done abroad. The caster regime with its military and its security apparat has been able to subvert democracies like Venezuela's through cultivating people like Google Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, Cuban intelligence officers have been torturing Venezuela and members of the opposition for years. Uh in the 1970s, the Castro regime sent thousands of soldiers into Ethiopia to take part in the red terror and a genocide that caused the death of over a million in the 1970s and 1980s, through a forced famine under the dictatorship of war criminal in Gitsu. and today, we have seen where the cash regime with its efforts, not only that they bring Daniel Ortega to power in the 1970s, but returned them to power in our assisting him actively today and consolidating his dictatorship once again in Nicaragua. the I'd like to close remembering the words of the son of Missouri TS Elliott who said, if we take the widest and wisest view of a cause, there is no such thing as a lost cause because there is no such thing as a gain cause. We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successor's victory. Through that victory itself will be temporary. We fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph. I cite him because in 1991, many thought with the demise of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the eastern block, the communism was over. There was no longer a threat. Many were wrong. Fidel Castro, Lula Da Silva, in nineteen ninety-one, plotted the return of communism of regaining what was lost at the Sao Paulo Forum. And over the last 30 years, they've done that in Latin America. As I said, we've seen it with the expansion of communism in Venezuela, its return in Nicaragua, the elections out in Peru and Honduras point to radical left wing elements will try to consolidate and undermine democracies there. So, we owe it to be vigilant, to remain vigilant, and this initiative to educate America's youth on the horrors of communism, its reality is a critical part of regaining and maintaining those freedoms. Thank you very much. And to all of you for being here. Until next time. Thank you. Yeah. I'm sorry. Yes. Yes. Sorry. I'm so sorry. They didn't so but please found her. Of campaign for the reason that they can't get. I mean an honor to have you. Yeah. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Um I want to thank you Representative Salazar for introducing this bill and to all the legislators who are sponsoring and joining us today and in support of victims of communism, I am speaking here as one of the school is facing active genocide by the Chinese communist regime. Education is the bad rock of a democratic society. We must raise future generations to recognize the dangerous of communist ideologies that will deny human dignity just as is the case of my own people. The is facing active genocide As Ambassador Bermberg spoke earlier. Origor women's bodies are being the battleground on this genocide while they are facing. Forced abortions, forced sterilizations, Chinese communist party is waging a war on freedom, faith, and human dignity. basically my own sister, Doctor Gulciana Bas, is in the hands of the Chinese regime as a hostage for my freedom of speech in this country. I spoke as an outlining the fate of my in-laws, twenty-four of my husband's entire family were taken to this concentration camps. When I spoke about it in September 2018, at the Hudson Institute, as an American citizen. My sister retired medical doctor was taken Six days after. Until today, I had no idea if she's still alive. There's no information on her whereabouts. It's vital that we educate the current generation on this and all other crimes being conducted by the repressive regimes. We must show them where the world has failed to act in the past. We must teach them to act in the future. The crucial communism teaching act sets a strong foundation. Stu students must have the opportunity to explore first hand accounts of the life under oppressive and the dyspotic regimes. We must examine atrocities head on to expose them for what they are. Deep violations of human dignity. The Chinese Communist Party is weaponizing education. It's used to erase identity and existence. The CCP is teaching. The virus history that avoids the crimes committed by the Chinese regime. The future of the free world is depending on the willingness of the international community to confront the evil. We must commit to teaching on the horrors of the past for the sake of our next generations. For the sake of the world that our children and our grandchildren inherit. And the for the future of the humanity. Please support this act. Thank you. Thanks to you. And finally, a Hong Kong activist. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Joey Sue. I'm a Hong Kong Human Rights Activist. I was born in the States and moved to Hong Kong when I was 7 and last year at the age of 21, I had to flee the city because of the ongoing atrocities and also escalating pressure. Given by the Chinese party in Hong Kong. And ever since the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong broke out in 2019. More than 10 000 protesters have been arrested. Simply for participating in rallies to fight for the freedom and democracy that we deserve as a human being. And as promised the Chinese party in the British joint declaration. And it is not just the protesters who are arrested. It was also the activists and politicians to medical experts and legal professionals. Every design in Hong Kong are facing lengthy imprisonment simply for fighting for freedom and democracy. And I witnessed first hand with my own experience how the Chinese party have destroyed Hong Kong. And I heard with my own years how communism have destroyed and taken away the futures from us. From my friends and all these people who are suffering from communism. From the general side in East Turkeystown happening right now. To the occupation of Tibet. And the escalating atrocities in Hong Kong. All this history have to remembered not only by us who are suffering and have been tortured under communism. But also by our next generations. And every single students in a future generations in America. What happened happening in Hong Kong, Cuba, and elsewhere undercoming Islam cannot be happening again in the United States. And that is why as a victim of communism, I'm urging congressional members to support and co-sponsor the bill. The crucial coming to some teaching act and to ensure the atrocities and all these things brought by communism will not be happening again here in the States. Thank you. okay. Now, I think we're done and thank you once again for your time. Until next time.
