[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 103 (Tuesday, June 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2077-S2078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OSWALDO PAYA WAY
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged from
further consideration of S. 376, and the Senate proceed to its
immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 376) 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. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read
a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered
made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (S. 376) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading,
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:
S. 376
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
[[Page S2078]]
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) the official investigation conducted by the Cuban
regime 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 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 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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