Cuban dissident Oswaldo Pay谩 blazed path for democracy in Cuba
Mr. Pay谩 was one of the only dissidents whose work for democratic reform reached thousands of Cubans, writes a guest blogger. He died in a car accident on Sunday.
Mr. Pay谩 was one of the only dissidents whose work for democratic reform reached thousands of Cubans, writes a guest blogger. He died in a car accident on Sunday.
鈥� A version of this post ran on the author's blog, thehavananote.com. The views expressed are the author's own.
It鈥檚 hard to say what the future might have held for Oswaldo Pay谩, a prominent Cuban dissident who headed the 海角大神 Liberation Movement on the island, had he not perished in a car accident [Sunday].
But what he left behind is no small thing: Mr. Pay谩 managed to organize fellow Cubans, who organized more fellow Cubans, and together they collected nearly 25,000 signatures seeking democratic reforms to the Cuban constitution. And while some criticized him for his Varela Project (so named for a famous Cuban priest and independence hero), which proposed changes to a constitution that critics refuse to legitimize, the movement he led is the only reformist one that I鈥檓 aware of to spread across the island and reach thousands of Cubans. Pay谩, who shunned US aid insisted that Cuba鈥檚 transition would be undertaken by Cubans, not foreign governments. It was his Varela Project that reached the ears of an entire nation, thanks to former President Jimmy Carter鈥檚 nationally live-televised 2002 speech 鈥� in Spanish, no less 鈥� at the University of Havana.
Oswaldo Pay谩 was a man dedicated to his faith and to his hopes for a more just and democratic society. Simply put, he made an impact in a way few other Cuban dissident activists have, and his passing leaves a void that won't be easily filled.
鈥� Anya Landau French blogs for The Havana Note, a project of the "US-Cuba Policy Initiative,鈥� directed by Ms. Landau French, at the聽New America Foundation/American Strategy Program.