Suu Kyi Receives Congressional Medal

It’s a big day for Burma. Pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi received the Congressional Gold Medal Wednesday, in a ceremony she described as “one of the most moving days of my life.” The honor came as the Treasury Department also announced it will also be lifting sanctions against Burma’s president, Thein Sein, who started enacting progressive reforms in 2011. Activist Suu Kyi was actually awarded the medal in 2008, when she was under house arrest for resisting Burma’s military regime and promoting democracy. Released in 2010, Suu Kyi remarked upon collecting her honor that democracy, despite its imperfections, can still be “a beacon of hope for all of us.”