Appointment of Armando Valladares as United States Representative on the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council

The President today announced his intention to appoint Armando Valladares to be Representative of the United States on the Human Rights Commission of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. He would succeed E. Robert Wallach.

Mr. Valladares is currently president of the European Coalition for Human Rights in Cuba. He spent 22 years as a political prisoner in Cuba. He is author of several books, among them: "From My Wheelchair" and "Against All Hope." He was adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience.

Mr. Valladares graduated from the Instituto de Segunda Ensenanza de Marianao, Havana, Cuba (B.A., 1954). He was born May 30, 1937, in Pinar Del Rio, Cuba. Mr. Valladares is married and resides in Madrid, Spain. He became a naturalized United States citizen in January 1987.