A blind Chinese dissident who escaped to the United States in 2012 is now an American citizen. Chen Guangcheng, speaking through a translator, said in an interview with The Associated Press last week he was “very grateful that America, this free country, has welcomed us.” Chen met with members of his legal team July 8 in Manchester, New Hampshire, to celebrate. He became a U.S. citizen in Baltimore on June 21. “It’s a long journey from being under house arrest in China to being a U.S. citizen. It took 15 years,” said George Bruno, former U.S. ambassador to Belize and one of Chen’s lawyers. An international symbol for human dignity after running afoul of local government officials for exposing forced abortions carried out as part of China’s one-child policy, Chen was subjected to years of persecution and illegal detention for advising villagers on how to counter official abuses. After serving …