[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18156]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING LEOPOLDO CIFUENTES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor 
the memory of a friend who passed away just a few days ago, a larger 
than life personality, a generous and extraordinary man, Leopoldo 
Cifuentes.
  Scion of a distinguished Cuban family, his grandfather purchased the 
famed Partagas cigar factory in 1875. The Cifuentes family symbolizes 
Cuban tobacco and cigars, the best in the world. And Leopoldo Cifuentes 
symbolized his remarkable family.
  When the Cuban Communist tyranny confiscated all businesses in Cuba 
in 1960, including the tobacco business of the Cifuentes family, young 
Leo came to the United States of America, a country he loved and 
admired deeply. He married Dagmar Hidalgo Nunez, an extraordinary 
woman, in 1962.
  That year Leopoldo Cifuentes volunteered to join the United States 
Army. Years later, he received an honorable discharge and the 
commendation of the then Army Secretary Cyrus Vance. Leo and Dagmar 
subsequently moved to Spain, where much of their extended family 
resided. Their children, Leopoldo, Jr., and Mayte, were born there. As 
Leopoldo and Dagmar's family grew, so did Leo's business success. But 
he never stopped loving the United States of America, nor the country 
of his birth, Cuba. Leopoldo Cifuentes, along with his son Leo Jr., and 
his nephew Rafael, have been bulwarks in the fight for Cuba's freedom.
  Madam Speaker, just this last July, when I visited Spain to meet with 
recently arrived former Cuban political prisoners, Leo, Leo Jr., and 
Rafa helped me to lend a hand to our heroes, the just-released-from-
the-gulag former political prisoners. And that's typical of their 
generosity and their patriotism.
  I send my deepest condolences to Dagmar, Mayte, Leo Jr., Rafa, and 
the entire wonderful family of Leopoldo Cifuentes. I will never forget 
him.

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