Cuban dissident Payá dies in traffic crash. Coincidence?

Cuban dissident Payá dies in traffic crash. Coincidence?
By Guillermo I. Martínez

7:55 p.m. EDT, July 25, 2012

News of the death of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas came as a sharp blow to the body that left me gasping for air. Another Cuban dissident had died, this time in a traffic accident with conflicting reports on how it happened. Time will tell if it was an accident or an assassination.

In the meantime, the Castro regime in Cuba has one less peaceful dissident to deal with. The Castro brothers, both Fidel and Raúl, always have found ways to rid themselves of those who dare question their mandate for life.

In the early days of the revolution, it was a firing squad or longer-than-life prison sentences. Hundreds were executed and tens of thousands jailed. At one point, Amnesty International said Cuba had more political prisoners per capita than any other country in the world.

Then the mobs took over. Eager goons, who were willing to prove their allegiance to the regime, harassed and beat up those who dared raise their voices against the country's lack of freedom, free speech and democracy. They did not discriminate. They would beat up men and women, blacks and whites, alike. Now they die in hunger strikes or in tragic accidents.
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In recent years, Payá had faded somewhat from the public eye. In 2002, he delivered more than 25,000 signatures toCuba'sNational Assembly asking the regime to guarantee freedom of speech and assembly and other human rights. His efforts failed. The National Assembly declared that the island's socialist system was "irrevocable."

For his efforts, Payá was awarded the Andrei Sakharov prize for his peaceful struggle for human rights. He was one of the few allowed to leave the island to receive his award and meet with world leaders, all of whom praised his efforts and criticized the regime.

Payá, a strong Catholic, did not want to become an exile and returned to Cuba, where in the spring of 2003, 75 dissidents were arrested, many of them members of the Christian Liberation Movement he had founded. They were freed within the last couple of years and forced to leave the island, thanks to international pressure and efforts by Cuba's Catholic Church.

Payá remained in Cuba, even though he knew his every move was monitored by government security forces. Three weeks before his death, a large automobile rammed into Payá's vehicle and overturned it in Havana. Payá called it a miracle that he was alive.

Harold Cepero, another Cuban dissident, also died in the crash near the city of Bayamo. Angel Carromero, a political activist from Spain, and Jens Aron Modig of Sweden also were injured and have not been allowed to speak to the media or leave the country.

In Payá's case, his daughter, Rosa María, said Sunday that her father's car had been rammed by another vehicle. Two people who saw the accident say the car driven by Carromero tried to avoid a pothole and crashed into a tree by itself.

Payá's funeral Mass was held Monday in the parish church in El Cerro, an old-Havana neighborhood, where he had worshiped all his life. The church was full, and cries of "Libertad" were heard on video and audio clips of the ceremony. Also, inside and outside the church were government goons, just making sure the Mass did not become an unruly protest.

The dissident's death was mourned the world over. President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney decried Paya's death. So did Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Pope Benedict XVI.

It will be hard to obtain the truth of precisely what happened to Payá. His death, and the protests it provoked in Cuba and abroad, are clear indications that the Castro brothers' regime is losing its grip on power.

In this century, three Cubans have been honored with the Sakharov Award. None has been given the Nobel Peace Prize. Even posthumously, Payá deserves the recognition, in the name of all those who peacefully oppose the regime and seek more freedom for Cubans.

Contact Guillermo I. Martínez on Twitter at @g_martinez123 or by email at guimar123@gmail.com.

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