Oswaldo Payá
Oswaldo Payá | |
|---|---|
| Born | Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas 29 February 1952 Havana, Cuba |
| Died | 22 July 2012 (aged 60) Bayamo, Granma Province, Cuba |
| Cause of death | Car crash |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Organization | Christian Liberation Movement |
| Known for | Varela Project, opposition to Cuban Communist Party |
| Spouse | Ofelia Acevedo |
| Children | 3, including Rosa María |
| Awards | Homo Homini Award (1999) Sakharov Prize (2002) |
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas (29 February 1952 – 22 July 2012) was a Cuban political activist. A devout Catholic, he founded the Christian Liberation Movement in 1987 to oppose the one-party rule of the Cuban Communist Party. He attracted international attention for organizing a petition drive known as the Varela Project, in which 25,000 signatories petitioned the Cuban government to guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of assembly as well as to institute a multi-party democracy. In recognition of his work, he received the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize and People in Need's Homo Homini Award.
On 22 July 2012, he died in a car crash under mysterious circumstances. The Cuban government stated that the driver had lost control of the vehicle and collided with a tree, while Payá's children and one of the car's passengers asserted that the car had been deliberately run off of the road. In 2023, a ruling by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) held the Cuban state responsible for the murder of Payá.