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July 24th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
“This Sunday has been a day of mourning. A terrible tragedy for his family and
a loss for the opposition movement,” said Elizardo Sanchez, a human rights
advocate and de facto spokesperson for Cuba’s small opposition. “He was a
prominent leader. He dedicated years of his life to fighting for democracy.”
Mr Paya’s home is in Havana and it was not immediately clear why he was near
Bayamo, 500 miles (800 kms) east of the capital.
He is the second leading Cuban dissident to die in the last year, after Laura
Pollan, co-founder of the protest group Ladies in White, died of heart
failure in October.
Mr Paya, who drew strength from his Roman Catholic roots as he pressed for
change in his homeland, continued to voice his opposition after Fidel Castro
resigned due to illness in early 2008, calling the passing of the presidency
to younger brother Raul a disappointment.
“The driving force of society should be the sovereignty of the people, not the
Communist Party,” he wrote after the new parliament chose Raul Castro as
head of state and government. “The people of Cuba want changes that signify
liberty, open expression of their civil, political, economic and social
rights.”
Mr Paya, an electrical engineer, gained international fame as the top
organizer of the Varela Project, a signature gathering drive asking
authorities for a referendum on laws to guarantee civil rights such as
freedom of speech and assembly.
Shortly before former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s visit to Cuba in May 2002,
Mr Paya delivered 11,020 signatures to the island’s parliament seeking that
initiative. He later delivered a second batch of petitions containing more
than 14,000 signatures to the National Assembly, Cuba’s parliament, posing a
renewed challenge to the island’s socialist system.
US President Barack Obama paid tribute to Mr Paya, calling him a “tireless
champion” on human rights on the Communist-run island.
“The president’s thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of
Oswaldo Paya, a tireless champion for greater civic and human rights in
Cuba,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.
“We continue to be inspired by Paya’s vision and dedication to a better future
for Cuba, and believe that his example and moral leadership will endure,”
the statement said.
“The United States will continue to support the Cuban people as they seek
their fundamental human rights.”
The dissident’s daughter Rosa Maria said the family did not believe that
Paya’s death was an accident, according to the Spanish-language El Nuevo
Herald, which is based in Miami.
“According to information we’ve obtained from people traveling with him, there
was a vehicle trying to force him off the road… We don’t think it was an
accident,” she said.
In Miami, many in the community of thousands of Cuban Americans also
questioned Paya’s death.
US Senator Marco Rubio, himself a Cuban American, said it was “critically
important that the international community join those inside Cuba in
pressuring the regime to be forthcoming with the truth.”
“Given this regime’s gross human rights record, its callous treatment of
political dissidents and over 50 years worth of blood on its hands, we
should insist that they be transparent in answering all the questions about
Paya’s death,” Mr Rubio said in a statement.
Source: Agencies
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