To promote a nonviolent transition to a Cuba that respects human rights, political and economic freedoms, and the rule of law.
On this day 12 years ago agents of the Cuban dictatorship murdered pro-democracy leaders Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero. Oswaldo Payá was a founder of the Christian Liberation Movement, a Sakharov Laureate who had been twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He also had dual Cuban – Spanish citizenship. Harold Cepero was a youth leader in the Christian Liberation Movement.
After that, eleven years ago Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to examine the evidence around the deaths of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero on July 22, 2012.
On June 12, 2023 the IACHR published their report on the merits that found Cuban government agents responsible for the deaths of the two pro-democracy leaders and Christian Liberation Movement leaders.
Earlier today, the Payá family and the Spanish Association Cuba in Transition, turned in a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation to ask the Minister, José Manuel Albares, about the efforts made by the Spanish Government to clarify the murder of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero in 2012. “The letter—sent 12 years after the assassination of the Cuban leaders—points out that more than a year has passed since the publication of the report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) that establishes the responsibility of the State of Cuba in the death. by Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero.”
Why did the Cuban dictatorship seek revenge against Oswaldo and Harold?
The Varela Project demonstrated to the international community that thousands of Cubans were not satisfied with the status quo, and wanted human rights to be respected, and multiparty democracy to return to Cuba. This contradicted the official narrative.
On May 10, 2002, Oswaldo, along with Regis Iglesias and Tony Diaz Sanchez of the Christian Liberation Movement, turned in 11,020 Varela Project petitions, and news of the petition drive was reported worldwide.
Consequently, Regis Iglesias and Tony Diaz Sanchez were sentenced to long prison sentences in March 2003 following show trials, along with 73 other Cuban dissidents. Many of them had taken part in the Varela Project and, nearly eight years later, were forced into exile as an alternative to completing their prison sentences.
Subsequently, in spite of the crackdown, Oswaldo would turn in another 14,384 petition signatures with Freddy Martini on October 5, 2003. He would spend the next eight years campaigning for the release of his imprisoned compatriots and continuing campaigns to achieve a democratic transition in Cuba.
Finally, early in 2012 Oswaldo also denounced that the Cuban government was engaged in a fraudulent change in which Cuban exiles were being asked to be complicit in their own repression. Once again he was disrupting the Cuban regime narrative.
Today, all around the world, including Cuba, masses are being celebrated in remembrance of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero.
Remember them.
They killed two men, but could not kill the ideas and projects they represented. The Christian Liberation Movement continues under the leadership of Eduardo Cardet, and Rosa María Payá, Oswaldo’s daughter, has emerged as a leader in her own right within the CubaDecide campaign.
Learn the full story in David Hoffman’s definitive book on this nonviolent Cuban icon, Give Me Liberty: The True Story of Oswaldo Payá and his Daring Quest for a Free Cuba.
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