[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 717 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 21, 2022
Mr. Rubio (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Cruz, and Mr. Menendez)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
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.
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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