[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 30, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E779]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING JOSE DE ARMAS Y CARDENAS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 30, 2008

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
posthumously honor Jose de Armas y Cardenas, a prominent Cuban 
journalist who wrote under the pseudonym Justo de Lara.
  From the time of his birth in 1866 in Guanabacoa, Cuba, Mr. de Armas 
y Cardenas was taught the fundamentals of journalism and literature by 
his parents Jose de Armas y Cespedes, the editor of La Nacion newspaper 
and his mother Fermina de Cardenas, a noted feminist, who founded and 
was the editor of the Pink Pages newspaper.
  After being educated as a lawyer Mr. de Armas y Cardenas began his 
remarkable and prolific journalistic career at his father's newspaper, 
La Nacion. He then went on to found El Peregrino magazine in Madrid, 
Spain, and La Avispa magazine in Havana and New York. He also served as 
a journalist for The New York Sun and New York Herald newspapers. While 
working for The Sun during Cuban War of Independence and later during 
the Spanish-American War he became an official translator of 
conversations between Cuban General Calixto Garcia and U.S. Lt. Colonel 
Theodore Roosevelt.
  But his career as a journalist was not enough to satisfy Mr. de Armas 
y Cardenas' intellectual curiosity. Mr. de Armas y Cardenas was fluent 
in Spanish, Italian, French and English. He also became a distinguished 
Cervantes scholar and in 1916 was the only Spanish-speaking person to 
be named by the Government of the United Kingdom to be a member of a 
commission responsible for the celebration of the life and work of 
William Shakespeare.
  Although Mr. de Armas y Cardenas passed away in 1919 he continues to 
posthumously serve as an example to all true journalists throughout the 
world. So much so that the Florida House of Representatives recently 
honored Mr. de Armas y Cardenas by designating March 28, 2008 as 
``Spanish Language Journalism Day in Honor of Justo de Lara.''
  Madam Speaker, I am proud to join my fellow Floridians in honoring 
Mr. de Armas y Cardenas for being an exemplary model for journalists of 
calling everywhere.

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