With her days in Congress numbered ahead of retirement this year, South Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is getting another lasting honor Wednesday evening.
During its annual gala in Washington, D.C. tonight, the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI) will rename its international award "The Ileana Ros-Lehtinen International Leadership Award."
In biographies and profiles, Ros-Lehtinen is often followed by, “the first Latina” or “the first Cuban American” in Congress.
“Ileana has always stood for human dignity and freedom,” Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a former Florida congressman and the CHLI chairman said in a statement. “The oppressed throughout the world have never had a better friend.”
Attendees at tonight's gala will include human rights advocates Richard Gere and Caitlyn Jenner, but it looks as if the real star will be Florida's very own Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.