[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 134 (Friday, July 30, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5224-S5225]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            OSWALDO PAYA WAY

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged 
from further consideration of S. 2045 and the Senate proceed to its 
immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2045) 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''.

  There being no objection, the committee was discharged, and the 
Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read 
a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made 
and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 2045) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed as follows

                                S. 2045

       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 61 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 
     dedicated to promoting democratic freedoms and human rights 
     in Cuba;

[[Page S5225]]

       (3) the Communist Party of Cuba has always viewed that 
     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 dissident;
       (5) the official investigation into the crash has been 
     demonstrated to be compromised, and the Castro regime has 
     offered no plausible evidence of the innocence of the Castro 
     regime in 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 Vaclav 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 the 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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