[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1239 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1239

    To designate the area between the intersections of 16th Street 
  Northwest and Fuller Street Northwest and 16th Street Northwest and 
    Euclid Street Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia, as 
                         ``Oswaldo Paya Way''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2023

 Mr. Diaz-Balart (for himself, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Gimenez, Ms. 
Salazar, and Ms. Malliotakis) introduced the following bill; which was 
       referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To designate the area between the intersections of 16th Street 
  Northwest and Fuller Street Northwest and 16th Street Northwest and 
    Euclid Street Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia, as 
                         ``Oswaldo Paya Way''.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the revolution led by Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1959 
        started 64 years of an ongoing dictatorship, systemic human 
        rights abuses, and a lack of basic freedom of press, religion, 
        assembly, and association that continue to this day under the 
        Communist rule of Raul Castro and his successor, Miguel Diaz-
        Canel;
            (2) Oswaldo Paya Sardinas was a Cuban political dissident 
        and activist dedicated to promoting democratic freedoms and 
        human rights in Cuba;
            (3) the Communist Party of Cuba has always viewed 
        individuals with a commitment to democracy and freedom as a 
        threat to the existence of the Communist Party of Cuba;
            (4) on July 22, 2012, a violent car crash, widely believed 
        to have been carried out by the Castro regime, took the lives 
        of Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero, another democratic activist;
            (5) Cuba's official investigation into the crash has been 
        demonstrated to be compromised, and the Cuban regime has 
        blocked all efforts to conduct a credible and independent 
        investigation into the crash, leaving the circumstances of the 
        death of Oswaldo Paya unknown;
            (6) opposition by Oswaldo Paya to the Communist Party of 
        Cuba began at a young age, when he refused to become a member 
        of the Young Communist League as a primary school student, and 
        continued through high school, when he publicly criticized the 
        invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union;
            (7) the Communist Party of Cuba responded to the opposition 
        by Oswaldo Paya to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet 
        Union by sending Oswaldo Paya to a labor camp for 3 years;
            (8) Oswaldo Paya forewent a chance to escape Cuba in the 
        1980 Mariel boatlift, deciding instead to continue the fight 
        for democracy in Cuba, saying, ``This is what I am supposed to 
        be, this is what I have to do.'';
            (9) by creating the Varela Project in 1998, Oswaldo Paya 
        demonstrated his staunch commitment to peacefully advocating 
        for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly for his fellow 
        Cubans;
            (10) in recognition of his determination for political 
        reforms through peaceful protests, Oswaldo Paya was awarded the 
        Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European 
        Parliament in 2002 and the W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award 
        from the National Democratic Institute for International 
        Affairs in 2003 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by 
        former Czech President Va1clav Havel in 2005;
            (11) on April 11, 2018, the Senate unanimously passed S. 
        Res. 224, recognizing the sixth anniversary of the death of 
        Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, commemorating his legacy and commitment 
        to democratic values and principles, and calling on the Cuban 
        Government to allow an impartial, third-party investigation 
        into the circumstances surrounding his death; and
            (12) renaming the street in front of the Embassy of Cuba in 
        the District of Columbia after Oswaldo Paya serves as an 
        expression of solidarity between the people of the United 
        States and the people of Cuba, who are engaged in a long, 
        nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights.

SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF OSWALDO PAYA WAY.

    (a) Designation of Way.--
            (1) In general.--The area between the intersections of 16th 
        Street Northwest and Fuller Street Northwest and 16th Street 
        Northwest and Euclid Street Northwest in Washington, District 
        of Columbia, shall be known and designated as ``Oswaldo Paya 
        Way''.
            (2) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
        document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
        area referred to in paragraph (1) shall be deemed to be a 
        reference to Oswaldo Paya Way.
    (b) Designation of Address.--
            (1) Designation.--The address of 2630 16th Street 
        Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, shall be 
        redesignated as 2630 Oswaldo Paya Way.
            (2) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
        document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
        address referred to in paragraph (1) shall be deemed to be a 
        reference to 2630 Oswaldo Paya Way.
    (c) Signs.--The District of Columbia shall construct 2 street signs 
that shall--
            (1) contain the phrase ``Oswaldo Paya Way'';
            (2) be placed immediately above existing signs at the 
        intersections of 16th Street Northwest and Fuller Street 
        Northwest and 16th Street Northwest and Euclid Street Northwest 
        in Washington, District of Columbia; and
            (3) be similar in design to the signs used by the District 
        of Columbia to designate the location of Metro stations.
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