[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 121 (Thursday, July 21, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3613-S3614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 717--HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF OSWALDO PAYA 
SARDINAS AND HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO PROMOTE DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN 
               CUBA ON THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH

  Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Cruz, and Mr. Menendez) 
submitted the following resolution; which

[[Page S3614]]

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 717

       Whereas the revolution led by Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1959 
     started 63 years of an ongoing dictatorship that 
     systematically violates the human rights of the Cuban people, 
     including denying them the basic freedoms of press, religion, 
     assembly, and association;
       Whereas Oswaldo Paya Sardinas was born in Havana, Cuba, in 
     1952 and became a nonviolent critic of the communist regime 
     as a teenager, resulting in 3 years of imprisonment in 1969 
     at a work camp, formerly known as ``Isla de Pinos'', in Cuba;
       Whereas Oswaldo Paya Sardinas 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.'';
       Whereas, in 1988, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas founded the 
     Christian Liberation Movement that called for peaceful civil 
     disobedience against the rule of the communist party of Cuba 
     and advocated for civil liberties and human rights in Cuba;
       Whereas, in 1992, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas announced his 
     intention to run for the National Assembly of Popular Power 
     of Cuba and collected hundreds of signatures to support his 
     candidacy, and 2 days before the election, was detained by 
     police at his home and informed by communist party officials 
     to be ineligible to run for office and threatened that 
     ``blood will run'' if he ran;
       Whereas, in 1998, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas and other leaders 
     of the Christian Liberation Movement initiated the Varela 
     Project, the largest civil society-led petition in the 
     history of Cuba, in order to circulate a legal proposal to 
     advocate for democratic political change within Cuba, 
     including ``convert[ing] into law, the right of freedom of 
     speech, the freedom of press and freedom of enterprise'';
       Whereas, in May 2002, the Varela Project delivered 11,020 
     signatures from eligible citizens of Cuba to the National 
     Assembly of Popular Power, calling for an end to 4 decades of 
     one-party rule, to which the communist regime responded by 
     beginning its own forced collection of signatures in 
     violation of its own rules to make Cuba's socialist system 
     ``irrevocable'', and an additional 14,000 signatures were 
     added to the Varela Project petition in 2003, and 10,000 more 
     signatures were added in 2016;
       Whereas, in March 2003, the crackdown on Cuban dissidents 
     by the communist regime in Cuba, referred to as the ``Black 
     Spring'', led to the imprisonment of 75 individuals, 
     including 40 leaders of the Varela Project and 25 members of 
     the Christian Liberation Movement, and the formation of the 
     Ladies in White movement by the wives of the imprisoned 
     activists;
       Whereas, in 2003, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas developed a Call 
     for the National Dialogue, which collected the contributions 
     of thousands of Cubans inside and outside of Cuba;
       Whereas, in 2006, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas published the 
     ``Todos Cubanos'' program, produced as a result of the 
     National Dialogue among Cubans, to achieve peaceful changes, 
     to propose a referendum to institutionalize human rights, to 
     ensure that the economic and social rights of the people of 
     Cuba are respected, to ensure that the people of Cuba are not 
     excluded in Cuba, and to establish a rule of law;
       Whereas, in 2007, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas called on the 
     National Assembly of People's Power to grant amnesty to 
     nonviolent political prisoners and to allow the people of 
     Cuba to travel freely without a government permit;
       Whereas, in 2011, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas denounced the 
     communist regime of Cuba's false liberalization for not 
     recognizing human rights and proposed to directly carry out a 
     Binding Plebiscite to change the system towards democracy and 
     establish a rule of law;
       Whereas, on July 22, 2012, Oswaldo Paya Sardinas and Harold 
     Cepero, a fellow pro-democracy activist, died in a troubling 
     car crash in Granma Province, Cuba, after being followed by 
     regime agents of Cuba;
       Whereas the communist regime of Cuba has failed to conduct 
     a credible investigation into the car crash that led to the 
     death of Oswaldo Paya Sardinas;
       Whereas, according to a report published in 2015 by the 
     Human Rights Foundation, the best available evidence strongly 
     suggests that the communist regime of Cuba is directly 
     responsible for the deaths of Oswaldo Paya Sardinas and 
     Harold Cepero, evidence that was deliberately ignored by the 
     judiciary system of Cuba;
       Whereas the trial and conviction of Angel Carromero, a 
     youth leader of the People's Party who was visiting Cuba and 
     driving the car at the time of the crash, did not include 
     testimony from key witnesses, and did not resolve questions 
     about whether another car was involved or whether Mr. 
     Carromero was coerced by the communist regime of Cuba into 
     signing a false statement of guilt;
       Whereas, in 2013, a number of United States Senators and 
     the Department of State called for an impartial, third-party 
     investigation by the Inter-American Commission on Human 
     Rights of the Organization of American States into the 
     circumstances surrounding the death of Oswaldo Paya Sardinas;
       Whereas Oswaldo Paya Sardinas has been formally recognized 
     in the past for his dedication to the promotion of human 
     rights and democracy, including by receiving the Homo Homini 
     Award in 1999, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 
     2002, the W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award from the United 
     States National Democratic Institute for International 
     Affairs in 2003, and being nominated for the Nobel Peace 
     Prize by Valclav Havel, the former President of the Czech 
     Republic, in 2005;
       Whereas, in 2012, the United States Senate unanimously 
     passed Senate Resolution 525, 112th Congress, agreed to July 
     31, 2012, honoring the life and legacy of Oswaldo Paya 
     Sardinas;
       Whereas, in 2018, the United States Senate unanimously 
     passed Senate Resolution 224, 115th Congress, agreed to April 
     11, 2018, recognizing the 6th anniversary of the death of 
     Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, and commemorating his legacy and 
     commitment to democratic values and principles;
       Whereas, in 2021, the United States Senate unanimously 
     passed Senate bill 2045, 117th Congress, agreed to July 30, 
     2021, 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'';
       Whereas, on July 14, 2022, the City of Miami, Florida 
     agreed to designate the area of LeJeune Avenue, between 11th 
     and 14th streets, as ``Oswaldo Paya Sardinas Way'' on the eve 
     of the 10th anniversary of his death, July 22, 2022;
       Whereas, throughout his life and since his death, Oswaldo 
     Paya Sardinas, his family, and friends endured years of 
     harassment and intimidation from the communist regime of Cuba 
     for his peaceful, political activism; and
       Whereas, on July 11, 2021, thousands of people in Cuba 
     raised their voices against the 63-year rule of the communist 
     regime and called for the same freedoms Oswaldo Paya Sardinas 
     dedicated his life to: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes and honors the life and legacy of Oswaldo 
     Paya Sardinas on the 10th anniversary of his death on July 
     22, 2022;
       (2) offers heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, 
     and loved ones of Oswaldo Paya Sardinas on this painful 
     anniversary;
       (3) in memory of Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, calls on the United 
     States to continue policies that promote respect for the 
     fundamental principles of religious freedom, democracy, and 
     human rights in Cuba, in a manner consistent with the 
     aspirations of the people of Cuba;
       (4) urges the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of 
     the Organization of American States to continue reporting on 
     human rights issues in Cuba, and to issue a favorable 
     decision in the case of Oswaldo Paya Sardinas and Harold 
     Cepero that recognizes evidence which establishes the 
     culpability of the communist regime of Cuba in their deaths;
       (5) calls on the communist regime in Cuba to allow an 
     impartial, third-party investigation into the circumstances 
     surrounding the death of Oswaldo Paya Sardinas; and
       (6) calls on the communist regime in Cuba to cease 
     violating human rights and to begin providing democratic 
     political freedoms to Cuban citizens, including freedom of 
     association, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free 
     elections, freedom to start private businesses, and amnesty 
     for political prisoners.

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