“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest”. – Elie Wiesel
A bench with Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas’s name inscribed was unveiled and blessed on the Malecón of Our Lady of Charity.
Cuba’s humanitarian crisis, the birth anniversary of Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas and the 30 year anniversary of the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down observed, and calls to indict Raul Castro for ordering the shoot down that killed four humanitarians dominated the news this past week.
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas was born 74 years ago on February 29, 1952. A bench with his name inscribed was blessed on the Malecón of Our Lady of Charity ( La Ermita) , dedicated to his memory. Ambassador Mike Hammer and the Payá family attended and spoke at its unveiling.
This was followed at 4:00 PM with a memorial mass offering our prayers for all those who have died for the freedom of Cuba and for the political prisoners who suffer on the island today. During the homily, Father José Espino read an excerpt from The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 43 – 48) and a reflection on Christian nonviolence and the nature of authentic freedom.
Love of Enemies.*
44 But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,45 that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.46 For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors* do the same?47 And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?*
Yale professor and author Carlos Eire published the OpEd in The Washington Post titled “What it’s like to watch a dictatorship strangle your home country” on February 26th which focuses on the humanitarian crisis, and the prospects of a democratic transition in light of the aftermath of the January 3, 2026 rendition of Nicolas Maduro, and newly applied pressure by the United States on Cuba. On the same day the Center for a Free Cuba’s executive director, together with other Cuban human rights defenders, testified before the Canadian parliament in a hearing on Cuba’s humanitarian crisis. Below is an excerpt from the hearing.
On February 25, 2026 the Cuban dictatorship announced that a shoot out had taken place with Cuban exiles. CFC’s executive director interviewed by NTD News a day later, warned that Havana was not a reliable narrator, and that an independent investigation needed to be conducted to establish what had happened. He also pointed out that Cubans were killed on October 28, 2022 when a boat carrying refugees was ambushed and sunk north of Bahia Honda by a Cuban coast guard cutter. Mother of a child killed in the attack was arrested after exposing Havana’s false narrative.
On the 30th anniversary of the February 24, 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shoot down, the Center for a Free Cuba’s executive director had an opinion piece published in The Washington Times that made the case that the Helms-Burton act that was signed into law in March of 1996 in retaliation for Havana’s act of state terrorism lays out the path to a democratic transition in Cuba.
Family members of the four men killed organized a vigil at Florida International University on February 24, 2026. Members of Brothers to the Rescue held a vigil at Opa Locka airport at a memorial for the four members killed. All called for the United States to indict Raul Castro for ordering the murder of Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña, and Armando Alejandre Jr.
The Center also organized a silent vigil at the Cuban Embassy on February 23, 2026 remembering Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died on February 23, 2010, following a prolonged hunger strike, in which prison officials denied him water contributing to his death, and remembering Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña, and Armando Alejandre murdered on Raul Castro’s orders on February 24, 1996. During the hour long vigil fact sheets were distributed on what had been done to Orlando Zapata Tamayo, and on the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down.
