Durbin, Bipartisan Senators Statement Following Inter-American Commission On Human Rights Findings In Oswaldo Paya Death

Statement

"At last, we have a clear verdict on what was suspected all along. After years of petty and cowardly harassment of Cuban patriot and democracy activist Oswaldo Payá, responsibility for his tragic death and that of his colleague, Harold Cepero, rests with the Cuban dictatorship.

Payá led a heroic and brave nonviolent movement that gathered thousands of signatures to petition for basic political freedoms under a plebiscite allowed under the Cuban constitution. Instead of respecting the people's demands for basic human freedoms, the Cuban dictatorship cravenly altered the constitutional provision allowing for the public to petition for such change. The Castro regime harassed Payá and Cepero relentlessly, leading to the tragic end of their lives.

The culpability for Payá's and Cepero's death also speaks to the many Cuban prisoners of conscience and political prisoners who have been and continue to be censored, jailed, harassed, or tortured for simply demanding even a semblance of political or economic freedom enjoyed by most of the Latin American and Caribbean region.

It is long overdue for the Cuban dictatorship to honor Payá's and Cepero's dream for a more open society and to stop blaming the Cuban people's suffering on anyone but their own cruel ineptitude, mismanagement, and self-enrichment."

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