Mayo 9, 2001: Newsgroups The soc.culture.argentina, soc.culture.brazil, soc.culture.british, soc.culture.caribbean, soc.culture.carribean, soc.culture.cuba, soc.culture.latin-america, soc.culture.latin-american, soc.culture.usa

For Urgent release! For more details, contact Mr. Sergio F. de Paz. (305) 308-3573

Prince Bertrand of Orleans-Braganza will come to Miami for a three day visit (May 7th - 9th) invited by the Comision de Estudios por la Libertad de Cuba. Arriving from Washington DC, where he spoke on pressing issues of Latin American concern and met with leading conservative leaders, Prince Bertrand brings a message of solidarity to Cubans in exile, who are working for the freedom of Cuba. In Miami, he will have a full schedule of meetings with local authorities, exiled Cuban leaders, and the media.

Prince Bertrand bears the title of Prince Imperial of Brazil, since he is the brother and heir to Prince Louis, the present Head of the Imperial House of Brazil. Both are direct descendants of the last Emperor of Brazil, Pedro II.

His father, Prince Pedro Henrique of Orleans-Braganza, the Head of the Imperial House of Brazil until his death in 1981, entrusted Prince Bertrand's social and political formation to Professor Plinio Correa de Oliveira, the renowned Catholic thinker, man of action, and founder of the Brazilian Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP). Both Prince Louis and Prince Bertrand are distinguished members of that organization.

In Brazil and other Iberian-American countries, Prince Bertrand enjoys moral and intellectual stature. He has a deep grasp of the Latin American reality, to which he has dedicated decades of study and observation.

In his recent conferences in the American capital, he analyzed and denounced the present strategies of the political (and even ecclesiastical) Left in Latin America, with a prominent role played by Communist Cuba, the Colombian narco-guerrillas and other revolutionary movements. He also emphasized the fundamental role of tradition and of the family in society, as well as the right to private property and free enterprise, all indispensable if the "Century of the Americas" is to bring us true Christian prosperity. Faithful to the traditional teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, Prince Bertrand is active in many pro-life and pro-family organizations.

Prince Bertrand descends from the Royal House of France, in a direct line from St. Louis IX of France (1214-1270), the crusader-saint. Born in Mandelieu, France in 1941, he studied at the Jesuit school in Rio de Janeiro and graduated as a lawyer from the Law School of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Prince Bertrand is Bailiff Grand-Cross of the Order of the Rose, Grand Cross of Peter I and of the other Imperial Orders of Brazil, as well as Bailiff Grand Cross of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

For more details about his visit to Miami, contact Mr. Sergio F. de Paz. (305) 308-3573