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Cuban Dissident’s Daughter Visits ICCAS


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    Rosa María Payá, daughter of Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, answers questions from the media at an April 12 press conference held at UM's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. Sitting next to her is ICCAS Director Jaime Suchlicki.

    Rosa María Payá, daughter of Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, answers questions from the media at an April 12 press conference held at UM’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. Sitting next to her is ICCAS Director Jaime Suchlicki.

    Rosa María Payá, the daughter of Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, who died under questionable circumstances in an automobile accident in Cuba, visited the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) on April 12 to urge international organizations to open an independent investigation into the car crash. She said that eyewitness accounts, text messages, and statements made after the July 2012 car crash raise questions about the Cuban government’s official version of the accident.

    Payá, who was visiting Miami for the first time under a recent immigration agreement, was introduced by ICCAS Director Jaime Suchlicki to a room full of journalists and members of the Cuban-American community.

    “What I am asking is to know the truth of what happened because we believe we have the right to know,” Payá said. She added that she was afraid for her family’s welfare, since they had received verbal and physical threats from the Cuban government. “I hold the government of Cuba responsible for the welfare of my family.”

    Payá has been traveling around the world, appealing to the European Union, the United Nations, and senators on Capitol Hill to start a probe into the accident.

    Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, who was a leader in the Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba, was best known for his Varela Project, a signature gathering campaign started in 1998 that advocated for democratic political reforms within Cuba, such as the establishment of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free elections, and other civil rights.

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