Early this September, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and the Embassy of Latvia hosted the presentation of the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom Award.
This year, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation honored Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL18) and Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former President of Latvia. According to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, the Medal of Freedom is annual presented to those “individuals and institutions that have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to freedom and democracy and opposition to communism and all other forms of tyranny.”
Both Honorable Ros-Lehtinen and President Vike-Frieberga have been victims of communism. Now representing South Florida’s 18th district, Hon. Ros-Lehtinen was forced to flee communism Cuba at age 8. She was first elected to Congress in 1989 and was the first Hispanic women to serve in the body. Today, she chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Due to President Obama’s address, Hon. Ros-Lehtinen was unable to attend; she was represented by her Chief-of-Staff and received the award at a private ceremony.
President Vike-Frieberga was also an exile of communism; she was forced to flee the 1945 Soviet occupation of the Latvia. She completed her undergraduate and Master’s degrees in psychology at the University of Toronto. President Vike-Frieberga’s speech was very moving. She briefly spoke of her refugee experience, education, and presidency but the most important area the speech covered was her activities post-presidency. At one speech, she compared Nazism and communism and when question responded that Nazism and communism, both “lack respect for human life and human dignity.”
The Master of Ceremonies was former Congressman Don Ritter and several information Washington VIPs were in attendance including former Cabinet officials, Congressman, and powerful Washington insiders. Dr. Lee Edwards, distinguished fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation and VOCM Foundation chairman, gave the event’s central remarks.
This column’s good friend, Ambassador from Latvia to the United States and Mexico, his Excellency Andrejs Pildegovics co-hosted the event and gave remarks. He called communism: “the worst horror of the 21st century” and highlighted that a victory of it was a “victory of freedom and democracy.”
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation established a memorial dedicated on June 12, 2007 by President George W. Bush in Washington DC to the 100 million victims of communism and in June 2009 launched the Global Museum on Communism at: www.globalmuseumoncommunism.org. The Examiner.com attended at the invitation of the Joint Baltic American National Committee, specifically its Managing Director, Karl Altau.
To view President Vike-Frieberga's speech see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY7FtSxzFcw
Comments