[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 14 (Monday, January 27, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E63]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI DEDICATES ROBERTO C. GOIZUETA PAVILION TO HOUSE 
                       CUBAN HERITAGE COLLECTION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 27, 2003

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, January 29, 2003, the 
150th anniversary of the birth of Cuban patriot Jose Marti, the 
University of Miami dedicates the Roberto C. GToizueta Pavilion to 
house the University of Miami Libraries' Cuban Heritage Collection. 
Under the accomplished direction and dynamic leadership of Professor 
Esperanza B. de Varona, the Cuban Heritage Collection is widely 
recognized as the premier collection of materials documenting the Cuban 
exile and Cuban American experience as well as the largest repository 
of historical and cultural Cuban materials outside of Cuba.
  The history of the Cuban Heritage Collection is inextricably tied to 
that of the University of Miami. As early as 1926, faculty from the 
University of Havana came to teach at the University, and the 
collection of library materials related to Cuba grew to support course 
work and scholarship in Latin American and Caribbean studies. The 
arrival of thousands of Cuban exiles in the early 1960s accelerated the 
collection's expansion. In 1998, the Otto G. Richter Library's vast and 
growing holdings of Cuban, Cuban exile and Cuban-American monographs, 
and special materials were brought together under the Cuban Heritage 
Collection with Esperanza B. de Varona as its head. Mrs. de Varona is 
capably assisted by the Collection's bibliographer, Lesbia Orta Varona.
  The Roberto C. Goizueta Pavilion, the new home of the Cuban Heritage 
Collection, is an elegant and spacious addition to the University of 
Miami's Otto G. Richter Library. It is named in honor of Roberto C. 
Goizueta, a Cuban refugee who lived, relished, and, indeed, embodied 
the American dream. Mr. Goizueta served as chairman of the Board of 
Directors and chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company from 
March 1, 1981 until his death on October 18, 1997. Born in Cuba in 
1931, Mr. Goizueta began his career with The Coca-Cola Company in 
Havana in 1953. In 1960, after the Communist regime of Fidel Castro 
assumed power in Cuba and nationalized all private businesses, Mr. 
Goizueta, his wife Olga and their children left Cuba for Miami. Within 
30 years of leaving Cuba, Mr. Goizueta was leading an American company 
that symbolizes freedom around the world--The Coca-Cola Company.
  Roberto C. Goizueta was more than a business leader. He was the ideal 
citizen who believed that every person who enjoys freedom and 
opportunity has a duty to cherish, protect, and nurture it. He strived 
to make America stronger, not only through his inspirational and 
exceptional business leadership but also through his generous 
philanthropic contributions. Mr. Goizueta established The Goizueta 
Foundation in 1992 to provide financial assistance to educational and 
charitable institutions. In 1999, under the leadership of Olga C. de 
Goizueta, wife of the late entrepreneur, The Goizueta Foundation made a 
challenge grant of $2.5 million to the University of Miami in 1999 
toward the building of a new home for the Cuban Heritage Collection. 
With additional support from the late Elena Diaz-Verson Amos and the 
Fanjul family, the Cuban Heritage Collection's Roberto C. Goizueta 
Pavilion was completed in the fall of 2002.
  From its new location, the Cuban Heritage Collection is able to 
continue to carry out its mission of collecting, preserving, and making 
accessible materials related to Cuban, Cuban exile, and Cuban American 
history and culture. It is a privilege for the collection to be doing 
so in the name of a man whose life, mission, and presence so influenced 
this community, this nation, and our world: Roberto C. Goizueta.

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