Díaz-Balart's Statement on CHLI Chairman Emeritus Lincoln Díaz-Balart's Lifetime Leadership Award
May 16, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C.– Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-26) issued the following statement regarding the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute's "Lifetime Leadership Award" to Chairman Emeritus, the Honorable Lincoln Díaz-Balart:
"There is no one more deserving of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute’s (CHLI) prestigious 'Lifetime Leadership Award' than the Honorable Lincoln Díaz-Balart. As a practicing lawyer, my brother Lincoln began his career by providing free legal services to the indigent. Lincoln later served in Florida’s state legislature before serving 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he became the first Hispanic member appointed to the influential House Committee on Rules. Since leaving Congress, in addition to being CHLI’s Chairman Emeritus, Lincoln has returned to practicing law in South Florida and has reinvigorated The White Rose Institute, which our father founded in 1959. The White Rose Institute was the first anti-Castro institute dedicated to promoting freedom and human rights in totalitarian Cuba.
In Congress, Lincoln was instrumental in codifying robust, comprehensive sanctions on the Castro regime, which remain in effect today until specific conditions are met. These conditions include the release of all political prisoners, legalization of speech, independent media, political parties, and labor unions, and the scheduling of free, fair, multiparty elections. Because of his work, those sanctions can only be lifted by an act of Congress, and not on the whim of any one president. His guiding principle could best be summed up as advancing the cause of freedom and always standing in solidarity with those stifled by repressive governments.
While in Congress, Lincoln founded the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute in 2003, along with then-Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and me, the only bipartisan organization of its type in Washington, D.C. CHLI was founded to provide a place for diversity of thought within the Hispanic community and to inspire new generations of Hispanic leaders. Today, over 300 participants in CHLI’s Global Leaders Congressional Internship Program, 23 of whom have served as interns in my office, are now shaping our world – as business leaders in Fortune 500 companies, congressional staff, educators, and elected officials. CHLI has become a launching pad for deserving, innovative, and bright young people who wish to enrich and advance every segment of American society.
Renowned Cuban poet and independence leader Jose Marti said, 'We light the oven so that others may bake bread in it.' Among Lincoln’s numerous accomplishments, CHLI is already proving to be a lasting legacy of unparalleled opportunities for the Hispanic community, and I am proud to be part of it. For his decades of principled service and inspired leadership, I extend my deepest congratulations, admiration, and gratitude to my brother, my mentor, and my best friend, the Honorable Lincoln Diaz-Balart, as he receives its 'Lifetime Leadership Award.'"
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