Cuban activist Payá Acevedo carries on her father’s work

Posted on Sunday, 04.14.13
CUBAN DISSIDENT MOVEMENT

Cuban activist Payá Acevedo carries on her father's work
By Juan Carlos Chavez
jcchavez@elnuevoherald.com

If there is something Rosa María Payá Acevedo remembers perfectly it is
having been raised in a home where every member of the family could
express their ideas and thoughts openly.

Gags were not allowed; Christian values were welcome.

In that atmosphere — contrary to the zero-tolerance policy imposed by
the Cuban government — was raised the daughter of the well-respected
late Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, founder of the Movimiento
Cristiano de Liberación (Christian Liberation Movement; MCL, for its
Spanish acronym).

Born in Havana on Jan. 10, 1989, Payá Acevedo has turned into the most
busy and visible face of the MCL. Her active role and leadership gained
force recently after the automobile crash that killed her father and
Harold Cepero, a good friend of the family, in Bayamo on July 22, 2012.

She blames the Cuban State Security agents for her father's death and
has called for an independent investigation. She is now in Miami as part
of an international trip to spread the message that Cubans need
democracy and unity of purpose.

"We need to push together,'' Payá declared last week during her first
formal appearance at the University of Miami. "It is time to push in the
same direction."

Her Miami visit follows that of Havana journalist and blogger Yoani
Sánchez, who spent several days in the capital of Cuban exiles. Like
Sánchez, the Cuban government had been denying Payá Acevedo permission
to travel abroad until February, a month after a reform of the island's
migration system removed the requirement for the much hated "exit permit."

With her calm voice and serene but decisive demeanor, Payá Acevedo is,
at age 24, one of the most respected voices of the new Cuban internal
dissident movement.

She is the second of three siblings — (Oswaldo, 25, and Reinaldo, 21) —
and the only daughter of a fervently Catholic and exemplary married
couple. Her father registered at the University of Havana to major in
physics, but, after speaking openly about his religious beliefs and his
rejection of Marxism, he had to abandon his studies. He eventually went
to night school to study telecommunications. Her mother, Ofelia, was
always with her husband since the early days of the MCL, in 1988.

Payá Acevedo learned the rigors of a Cuba that barely survived the tough
economic era known as Special Period following the collapse of the
former Soviet Union. She was only 12 years old when the European
Parliament honored her father with the prestigious 2002 Sakharov Prize
for Freedom of Thought. She had yet to become a teenager when, every
morning, her house would have its facade painted with government slogans
carrying messages such as "Payá: CIA agent."

Persistent and careful with details, Payá Acevedo — like her father —
studied physics at the University of Havana, where she graduated with
high grades in 2011.

Yet the fact that she was the daughter of an opposition couple turned
out to be uncomfortable for the Castro brothers' government and this
reality finally caught up with her.

Since then, she has been the target of numerous obstacles from Cuban
authorities. To this day, she has been unable to obtain a job in a
country where virtually all sectors are controlled by the government. In
December, she was denied permission to take part in an academic program
in Chile shortly before the migration reforms began.

She had planned to attend an International Conference on Politics Theory
and Public Action at the University of Miguel de Cervantes from Jan. 8
to 15.

Payá Acevedo said that she had a Chilean visa and had complied with all
the rules of the law to receive a final exit permit in Havana.

Yet the government denial was perhaps the expected blow due to her acute
criticism and bold statements on the state of freedoms on the island.
However, the repression and the threats against her and her family have
not undermined her determination and dignity.

Recently Payá Acevedo denounced that the Cuban government was arresting
peaceful dissidents and human rights activists who collected signatures
to support two MCL initiatives seeking more openness in the country.

One of those initiatives is a bill on National Reunion also known as the
Heredia Project, a proposal to allow Cubans to travel freely. The other,
known as The Path of the People, asks for the release of political
prisoners, the reinstatement of basic freedoms and to call for a
Constitutional Assembly.

In the middle of February, Cuban authorities allowed Payá Acevedo to
travel temporarily to Spain. From there, she went to Switzerland to
attend a human rights congress. The tour continued through other
countries in Europe and to the United States.

Friendly and determined to uncover the truth behind her father's and
Cepero's deaths, Payá Acevedo not only has gradually become a fighter
for the rights of all Cubans but her contribution has also been focused
on opening more doors to exchange viewpoints.

"There are already enough Russias and Chinas in the world," Payá said.
"We don't want that future for our island.

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