By Angelita Baeyens
July 01, 2023 7:31 PM
The Cuban regime finally is being held responsible for the murder of Oswaldo Payá, one of the country’s most prominent political dissidents and pro-democracy activists.
This long-awaited development comes more than a decade after Payá and fellow activist Harold Cepero were killed in a car crash. Payá’s family and supporters always believed the regime was behind it, but the government went to great lengths to establish a convenient — and false — narrative that their deaths resulted from negligent driving by Spanish youth activist Angel Carromero.
But an independent finding by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) asserts the direct involvement of state agents in the crash.
The IACHR found “serious and sufficient evidence … to conclude that state agents participated in the death” of Payá and Cepero, and that both men were subjected to violence, harassment, threats and attempts on their lives before they died.
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We know the IACHR’s calls for reparations to the Payá and Cepero families, including fully investigating and holding government actors accountable for their crimes, are largely symbolic. Still, these findings must have consequences for Cuba’s standing as an influencer in key decision-making venues like the United Nations, and especially the Human Rights Council.
Having the U.N. recognize the severity of these IACHR findings, it demonstrates something important: The international community is listening. Payá lived his life dedicated to the dream of providing freedom for others. By fully holding Cuba accountable, beginning with excluding it from the Human Rights Council, that dream begins to be realized for other Cubans.
Please sign and share this petition to expel Cuba from the UN Human Rights Council.