Oswaldo Payá - The seed that will sprout

Posted on Sunday, 07.21.13

Oswaldo Payá: The seed that will sprout
BY ERNESTO MARTINI
MARTINIJUVENTUS@YAHOO.ES

Oswaldo Payá died one year ago today. I find it difficult to remember
that tragic event because I resist the thought that it happened.

How can I write about those days without feeling my heart wrung by the
pain produced by the violent departure of Oswaldo and and his colleague
Harold Cepero?

"Let's meet again on Sunday afternoon," were the last words I exchanged
with Oswaldo two days before his death. while I helped to evacuate — as
discreetly as possible — some leaders of the Holguín Christian
Liberation Movement (MCL), the organization Oswaldo founded.

About Harold I only remember how frazzled we were on that Friday, when
we had to pick up — at various places in Havana — the men who had come
from Holguín for a reunion. Despite the many plans we made to ensure a
successful gathering, something always went wrong.

That fateful Sunday I was working in a friend's shop when the cell phone
rang. It was Oswaldo's wife, Ofelita, who informed me that he was dead.
I ran home to get my wife and rushed to a house in Havana's Cerro
district where other friends had gathered.

They confirmed to me what until that moment I hoped might not be true. I
embraced one of those friends and let loose the pain I felt inside.

The arrival of Ofelita and her children from the airport brought me back
to reality. Their futile effort to travel as soon as possible to the
site of the events left me no other option than dealing head-on with the
situation.

Rosa, Payá's daughter, and her mother told me about phone calls from
Regis Iglesias, MCL'S spokesman, and about their own attempts at calling
Oswaldo's cell phone and about the confirmation of Oswaldo's death in a
traffic accident. At the time, there had been no confirmation of
Harold's death because he was said to be in a hospital.

Phone calls continued to arrive, as well as text messages. "We were
rammed from behind and shoved off the road," one message said. It had
not been an accident. It had been a premeditated attack and the two
friends who traveled with them had been detained.

The existence of those messages, which proved the homicidal nature of
the events, was confirmed by friends in Spain and Sweden, the home
countries of other occupants of the car. There was no possible doubt.
The Cuban regime had murdered Oswaldo and Harold.

The phone did not stop ringing all night long, with questions from the
media and condolences from friends and members of the movement. It was
an interminable night.

On Monday morning, another colleague and I went to the Colon Cemetery to
arrange for the burial. Oswaldo's body was brought to Havana.

Followed and watched all the time by the political police, we are able
to make the arrangements. On the day of the funeral mass, after an
hours-long wait, Oswaldo's body was brought into the church, the same
place where he made a commitment to take up Jesus' cross and follow him.
There was a burst of applause, shouts of "Long live the Varela Project!"
Hundreds of people filled the church. Traffic along the surrounding
streets was halted by the massive crowds.

The procession past Oswaldo's coffin continued for a long time. Mourners
expressed their condolences to the family. Where did so many people come
from?

Past the coffin walked not only members of the opposition and
parishioners of the church where Oswaldo was so well known. Past the
coffin walked his neighbors, his colleagues, people who, out of fear,
never approached Oswaldo or ignored his friendly greeting. They went
there to show their respect for a man who was more than a hope.

A final mass was held on the day of the funeral. Despite the eaarly
hour, the church was full. Days later, a friend told me that several
thousand people went through the church.

It was the most memorable mass I've ever attended, a physical farewell
to a man who in the past 25 years I had admired and respected as if he
were my father. It was a final challenge and a final opportunity to be
with him. At the end, we read a statement of commitment to, and
continuity for, our peaceful struggle to free our homeland.

At the cemetery, hundreds of people are waiting for the coffin and a
loud ovation greeted it. We walked to the gravesite, where we deposited
not the body of Oswaldo Payá but a seed that will sprout, grow and bring
the fruits of freedom for which he gave his life.

Ernesto "Freddy" Martini has been a member of the Christian Liberation
Movement since 1988 and a member of the MCL's Coordinating Council since
1998. He has found exile in Miami.

Source: "Oswaldo Payá: The seed that will sprout - Other Views -
MiamiHerald.com" -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/21/3509854/oswaldo-paya-the-seed-that-will.html