His death prompted an outpouring of tributes from political leaders and community figures who hailed his legacy as a statesman and defender of human rights.

Balart, a Cuban-American Republican politician who defended immigrants and fiercely opposed Fidel Castro’s regime to help restore democracy in his native Cuba while serving for almost two decades in Congress representing South Florida,

Balart, a Cuban American who fought tirelessly for a free Cuba and who spent 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives as a member of a politically powerful South Florida family, has died after battling cancer,