Armando Valladares
International Council of the Human Rights Foundation
Armando Valladares, a former Cuban political prisoner, is chairman of the International Council of the Human Rights Foundation, a nonprofit group supporting human rights and liberal democracy in the Americas. The following is from the September 18, 2008, hearing, “Families Torn Apart: Human Rights and U.S. Restrictions on Cuban–American Travel Hearing. Sending money to Cuba only serves toprolong the tyranny of the Castro regime. Hundredsof millions of dollars arrive every year to the island from the Cuban exilecommunity. Certainly this money is meant to help their families; however, itcan only be used on the black market or to…