U.S. Sen. Bob Menéndez receives Cuban Exile Legacy Award and the keys to Miami

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez received the Legacy of Exile Award and the keys to the city of Miami on Saturday at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, a tribute to his lifelong devotion fighting for the freedom of the Cuban people.

In his thank you speech, Menéndez, who is Cuban American, expressed that Cuba “sooner rather than later will be free, independent and sovereign, as José Martí wanted."

The senator said U.S. policy towards Cuba, should be “non-partisan” and that the U.S. should be a “beacon” for freedom and human rights in the world.

He also reiterated his opposition to negotiations with the Havana regime, which he said, “owns everything and is not going to give up anything.”

The New Jersey based senator added that a free Cuba is not an "empty promise” and opined that the end of the dictatorship will be achieved with the will of the United States, the European Union (EU) and the Latin American democratic governments.

The event, organized by the Inspire America Foundation and its president, Marcell Felipe, was attended by Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, former Miami Mayor Joe Carollo, Cuban opposition member Rosa María Payá of Cuba Decide and other prominent exile leaders from the city.

Menéndez said goodbye to his audience by singing “Guantanamera,” with an orchestra that surprised him from behind the stage when he received the awards.

The artist William Ríos also shared an image of the senator holding one of his works entitled La Cautiva.

Born in New York in 1954 as the son of Cuban exiles, Menéndez became the first Hispanic to be elected to U.S. Congress in 1992.

“Everything I do for Cuba, I do it because it is the home that my family had to leave... for the valuable people who in the past and present have not been able to escape the clutches of communism,” the senator said with emotion.