[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 49 (Monday, March 31, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E441]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     DAY OF SPANISH LANGUAGE JOURNALISM, IN HONOR OF JUSTO DE LARA

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                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 31, 2008

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I would like to express my sentiment 
that March 26, 2008, should be designated as ``Spanish Language 
Journalism Day in honor of Justo de Lara.''
  Jose de Armas y Cardenas, who wrote under the pseudonym of Justo de 
Lara, was a distinguished journalist, poet, and author. As a result of 
his contributions, the Cuban department store chain El Encanto named 
their journalism award, the most prestigious award of its kind in Cuba, 
the Justo de Lara Prize for Spanish Journalistic Excellence. This award 
was given out from 1934 until Fidel Castro's communist takeover in 
1959.
  His fluency in Spanish, English, Italian, and French and his love for 
reading and literature fueled his own desire to write. At an early age, 
he was a prolific author and journalist. He worked during the Spanish-
American War as a special envoy for the Sun in 1898, serving as an 
official translator between Cuban General Calixto Garcia and Lt. 
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. Jose de Armas y Cardenas was also the only 
person of Spanish-speaking origin named by the Government of England in 
1916 to be a member of the commission responsible for the tricentennial 
celebration of William Shakespeare.
  Due to his legacy and example to countless generations, March 26, 
2008, should be designated as ``Spanish Language Journalism Day in 
honor of Justo de Lara,'' in recognition of the excellence in 
journalism that Jose de Armas y Cardenas achieved during his life and 
his love of literature, of the excellence in journalism that the award 
in his honor continued to recognize after his death, and of the hope 
for such continued excellence today and in the future.

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