Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation announces annual Captive Nations Summit
A former Cuban refugee who became the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress will headline the annual summit during Captive Nations Week.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation will host its annual Captive Nations Summit July 20 in Washington, D.C., bringing together foreign policy leaders and advocates to “recapture the promise of democracy.”
Coinciding with Captive Nations Week, the summit will focus on the future of freedom in communist countries and explore the challenges posed by dictatorships and rising authoritarianism around the world, according to the foundation.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a nonprofit educational and human rights organization that commemorates victims of communist regimes and advocates for people living under totalitarian governments.
The summit will begin at 4 p.m. with keynote remarks from former U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who came to the U.S. after fleeing Cuba's communist regime with her family when she was 8 years old. Ros-Lehtinen represented Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives for 15 terms, where she became the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress and the first woman to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The keynote address will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Jamie Fly, CEO of Freedom House; Daniel Twining, president of the International Republican Institute; and Damon Wilson, president and CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy.
Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, a foundation trustee, will moderate the discussion. She also serves as vice chair of the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and as a senior fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs.
Captive Nations Week has been observed annually in the U.S. since 1959.
