[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[August 6, 1993]
[Page 1347]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Meeting With Mario Chanes de Armas
August 6, 1993

    I am honored to welcome to this house and to this country one of the 
heroes of our time. Mario Chanes de Armas was freed from prison in Cuba 
after having spent three decades as a political prisoner of the Castro 
regime. He is a living testimony to the unbending will to strive for 
liberty and dignity.
    He sacrificed the best years of his life to the ideal that he and 
his fellow citizens will be free. The full might of dictatorship was 
brought to bear against him. Yet, it could not break his spirit. It is 
men and women like him who have built our land into a beacon of freedom 
and hope for the oppressed peoples of the world.
    Our meeting today is a symbol to those brave Cubans who remain in 
prison on political charges or who struggle daily, risking their lives, 
for the twin causes of human rights and democracy. Our message to these 
courageous people is simple: The United States will not rest until all 
of the peoples of this hemisphere enjoy the fruits of freedom and 
democracy.