For Cuba, a torch of freedom

For Cuba, a torch of freedom
By Editorial Board, Saturday, July 20, 3:18 AM

WHEN A blue rental car skidded off the road in rural Cuba on July 22,
two men riding in the back seat were killed: dissident Oswaldo Payá, 60,
and Harold Cepero, 32, the head of the youth wing of Mr. Payá's
Christian Liberation Movement. Mr. Cepero had trained in the seminary
but later decided on human rights work. Their deaths, and much about the
car crash, remain suspicious; the Spanish politician who was at the
wheel has said they were forced off the road by a vehicle bearing
government license plates.

Mr. Payá and Mr. Cepero were among the hardy band of dissidents who have
remained committed to fighting for democracy in Cuba despite threats and
intimidation from the Castro regime. On Wednesday, Mr. Cepero
posthumously was one of four recipients of the National Endowment for
Democracy's 2013 Democracy Award. Receiving the honor for him was Mr.
Payá's daughter, Rosa Maria Payá, who has sustained the torch — and the
spirit — of their quest.

After speaking out in Europe and the United States this year, Ms. Payá
returned to Cuba to find repression tightening around her and her
family. Visitors to their home were harassed. Ominous threats published
in state-run media warned they were "playing with fire." On June 6, Ms.
Payá, her mother, Ofelia Acevedo, and five other family members fled to
Miami, where they have settled as political refugees. The Cuban
authorities let them depart without fuss — no doubt pleased to see them off.

It would be a mistake to consider this the end of the matter. Ms. Payá
told us she intends to carry on the work of her father, who championed
the Varela Project, a movement for nonviolent change centered on a
referendum calling for political freedoms. Fidel Castro didn't like the
idea when Mr. Payá first raised it a decade ago, and many of Mr. Payá's
colleagues were arrested and jailed. Mr. Payá was frequently harassed.
His daughter hopes to return to Cuba and points out that this is a
moment of vulnerability for the Castro brothers in their twilight years,
primarily because of the nation's economic woes and loss of Hugo
Chávez's patronage from Venezuela.

One significant piece of unfinished business is to explain the death of
Mr. Payá and Mr. Cepero in the car wreck. Ms. Payá has demanded an
impartial and rigorous international investigation, but one has yet to
be mounted, and Cuba is not likely to cooperate. Mr. Payá was also a
Spanish citizen, yet Spain has so far been weak-kneed about pursuing the
truth. Ms. Payá and others close to her family are considering filing a
petition in the Spanish courts for a serious inquiry into crimes against
humanity — not only her father's death but also efforts to squelch his
movement. That might begin to lift the veil and pose some uncomfortable
questions for whoever forced the car carrying Mr. Payá and Mr. Cepero
off the road.

Source: "For Cuba, a torch of freedom - The Washington Post" -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/for-cuba-a-torch-of-freedom/2013/07/19/e2bb768a-ef0a-11e2-a1f9-ea873b7e0424_story.html