[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 16 (Monday, February 10, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S1200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO GABRIEL LEWIS GALINDO

 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a true 
Panamanian statesman, a renowned diplomat, and a good friend of the 
United States--Gabriel Lewis Galindo.
  Gabriel Lewis was considered his nation's leading expert on foreign 
affairs. And, over the past 20 years he was an influential figure in 
nearly all the major issues that dominated United States-Panamanian 
relations.
  As Panama's Ambassador to the United States in the late 1970's, he 
played an integral role in helping to negotiate the Panama Canal 
treaties, which will transfer control of the waterway to Panama in the 
year 2000. In the end, Gabriel Lewis's abundant personal charm and 
charisma were a guiding force behind not only the resolution of those 
negotiations, but Senate approval of the treaties.
  Gabriel Lewis was also a persistent and powerful voice for democracy 
in Panama. He became an outspoken and forceful opponent of the regime 
of Gen. Manuel Noriega seeking exile in the United States after being 
charged with treason in his native country.
  Here in the United States, he continued his tireless struggles on 
behalf of Panamanian democracy, mobilizing support against the Noriega 
regime and leading efforts to increase United States economic pressure 
on Panama.
  After the overthrow of Noriega, Gabriel Lewis continued his 
commitment to public service and the Panamanian people by becoming 
Panama's Foreign Minister in 1994. Almost immediately, he was working 
to improve United States-Panamanian relations. Soon after taking 
office, he recommended that the newly elected President of Panama, 
Ernesto Balladares, take in up to 10,000 Cuban refugees helping to 
defuse a growing crisis in the Caribbean.
  Often in this body we honor great Americans who are a tribute to 
their community and their Nation. But we must also take the time to pay 
homage to those, who from abroad, are the embodiment of the values and 
precepts we hold dear as Americans. Gabriel Lewis Galindo was just such 
a man and he will be sorely missed both in his native Panama and by 
those who knew and respected him here in the United States.
  My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Nita, his 6 children, and 
his 21 grandchildren.

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