[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 94 (Monday, June 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S6754]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO GABRIEL LEWIS OF PANAMA

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I was distressed to learn recently that a 
serious illness has required a valiant champion of human rights and 
democracy and a great friend of the United States to withdraw from his 
high position as Foreign Minister of the Republic of Panama. Foreign 
Minister Gabriel Lewis is well known to many of us in Congress and he 
is especially warmly remembered for his determined, persuasive, and 
eloquent opposition to the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega in Panama.
  Few, if any, individuals were more responsible for the return of 
democracy and respect for human rights in Panama than Mr. Lewis. He 
championed the cause of his fellow Panamanians in a way that makes him 
a profile in courage for our time.
  The President of Panama has recently appointed Mr. Lewis to be his 
senior counsel with cabinet rank. I know that all friends of Mr. Lewis 
in the United States and many other countries wish him a speedy 
recovery. We need his continuing leadership to advance the close ties 
between our two countries, and to enhance the cause of democracy 
throughout the Americas.

                          ____________________