New York, NY. July 18, 2007. The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation (IRWF) is proud to announce that President Aníbal Cavaco Silva of Portugal and Constitutional President Rafael Correa Delgado of Ecuador have recently joined The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation as Honorary Members.
The IRWF hopes that both President Silva’s and President Delgado’s membership will act as a valuable liaison and representative between the people their respective countries and The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation’s mission to develop educational programs and campaigns based on solidarity and civic courage, using the story of Raoul Wallenberg as a way to spread awareness of these values.
The Honorary Members of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation include over 200 worldwide heads of state, governors, mayors, and Nobel Prize laureates. The Portuguese members already include current Prime Minister José Sócrates, and former Presidents Jorge Sampaio and Mário Soares.
”Regardless of different ethnical and territorial origins, our Honorary Members have the same concern on peace, human rights and diversity,” states Founder of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, Baruch Tenembaum. ”This is exactly what President Aníbal Cavaco Silva and President Rafael Correa Delgado have sought to promote during their tenures.”
With branches in New York, Argentina, Germany, and Israel, The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has initiated diverse campaigns to honor and commemorate Raoul Wallenberg, as well as other Saviors of the Holocaust such as Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who served as Consul of Portugal to Bordeaux, France in 1940. Mendes issued false transit visas, which saved the lives of over 30,000 French refugees. Mendes was disgraced by President Salazar of Portugal in 1941, however in 1987 he was posthumously recognized for the struggles and sacrifices he made in the name of humanity.
The IRWF is pleased to add President Silva and President Delgado as its Honorary Members, and looks forward to their support and involvement.
