WASHINGTON DC, USA, Oct. 08, 2004 (CNA) – Dagoberto Valdes Hernandez, a Catholic intellectual and Cuban dissident, was named the recipient of the 2004 Jan Karski Award for Valor and Compassion.
Valdes Hernandez heads the Center for Civic and Religious Formation of the Diocese of Pinar del Rio in Cuba. He is also the director of the 10-year-old Catholic cultural magazine ”Vitral” (www.vitral.org).
Selected from an outstanding field of nominees, Valdes Hernandez will receive the award at a luncheon Nov. 17 at the Marriot Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. The award includes $10,000 and a statuette.
The Jan Karski Award for Valor and Compassion is chaired by Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick with Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, honorary chair.
The international award was created by the friends and associates of Dr. Jan Karski, who is considered to be one of the most heroic Polish Catholic heroes of World War II.
