Balart, who served in the Florida House, the Florida Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives, died on Monday, according to his brother Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart. He was 70.

Forced into exile as a boy, the Florida Republican became a voice for democracy in his native Cuba and a committed champion of immigrants.

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,