The Cuban opposition Rosa Maria Payá stressed to Efe today that the legacy of his father, Oswaldo Payá, is still alive when it is six years since his death and a constitutional reform is under way in Cuba that in his opinion is at the same time a “theater “and a” trap “.
“My father’s words are especially relevant today, as they denounce the attempt of the Castro family and the group of dictatorship generals to perpetuate their power through what my father calls ‘fraud change’, which is exactly what they seek with this theater of constitutional reform “, said Payá.
Payá, who leads the Cuba Decide movement, spoke well before the celebration of a mass of action in Miami thanks, according to the convocation, of the sixth anniversary of the “double state crime” of which the Cuban dissidents were victims Oswaldo Payá (1952-2012) and Harold Cepero (1980-2012).
The Payá-Acevedo family and the Foundation for Pan American Democracy have invited the community to attend this Mass that will take place today at the chapel of La Caridad in Miami, a place of devotion and encounter for Cuban exiles.
Payá and Cepero died on July 22, 2012 in Bayamo (Cuba), when the car in which they were traveling left the highway, which was driven by a Spanish politician, Angel Carromero, who survived and was accused in Cuba of reckless driving and judged by it.
Rosa María and her mother, Ofelia Acevedo, affirm that it was not an accident, but that agents of the security of the Cuban State provoked with another vehicle that the car went off the track.
The daughter of the opposition politician affirmed that today’s mass aims to “honor” the lives of her father and Cepero and “thank her for her legacy.”
The family – he added – is encouraged by the recent publication of the first book by the creator of the Christian Liberation Movement, “Night will not be eternal” (Editorial Hypermedia, 2018), and by the fact that the United States Senate has taken up an initiative “to change the name of the street in front of the Cuban embassy in Washington for the one of Oswaldo Payá Way”.
The initiative dates back to 2015 and is supported by senators such as Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson, he said.
On the constitutional reform announced by the Cuban government, he affirmed that “the dictatorship desperately needs to legitimize itself before the great discontent of the people” and the “imminent physical disappearance of the so-called ‘historical leaders'”.
It has also influenced, he says, “the support that the citizen claim of plebiscite has won to change the system”, which the Cuba movement proposes that she leads.
The reform will be submitted to a referendum but, according to Payá, the whole process is a “fraud” and “lacks guarantees”.
Underlines in this regard that the “drafters of the preliminary draft”, members of the National Assembly, “have not been elected by the Cuban citizens,” and that “there is no possibility of campaigning, nor the presence of independent observers, nor the possibility of parallel counting,” nor freedom to not vote without being coerced “in the face of the announced popular consultation.
But in addition, he added, “win the yes or win the no, the result is the same: Communist Party in perpetuity,” because “the dictatorship” has already made clear the irrevocability of socialism and the communist party as “governing force of society and the state”.
Oswaldo Payá, winner of the 2002 Sakharov Prize, will also be remembered this week at a ceremony in Miami where the official presentation of his book “Night will be eternal” will be made, published on Amazon on July 5.
The book is subtitled “Dangers and hopes for Cuba,” is prefaced by Payá’s widow, Ofelia Acevedo, and its purpose is none other than, as the author explains, “help discover that we can live the process of liberation and reconciliation and walk to the future in peace. “
