117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2045 

AN ACT 

To designate the area between the intersections of 16th 

Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th 

Street, Northwest and Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia, as ‘‘Oswaldo Paya ́ Way’’. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the revolution led by Fidel Castro in Cuba 

4 in 1959 started 61 years of an ongoing dictatorship, 

5 systemic human rights abuses, and a lack of basic 

6 freedom of press, religion, assembly, and association 

7 that continue to this day under the Communist rule 

8 of Rau ́l Castro and his successor, Miguel Dı ́az9 Canel; 

10 (2) Oswaldo Paya ́ Sardin ̃as was a Cuban polit11 ical dissident dedicated to promoting democratic 

12 freedoms and human rights in Cuba; 

13 (3) the Communist Party of Cuba has always 

14 viewed that commitment to democracy and freedom 

15 as a threat to the existence of the Communist Party 

16 of Cuba; 

17 (4) on July 22, 2012, a violent car crash, wide18 ly believed to have been carried out by the Castro re19 gime, took the lives of Oswaldo Paya ́ and Harold 

20 Cepero, another dissident; 

21 (5) the official investigation into the crash has 

22 been demonstrated to be compromised, and the Cas23 tro regime has offered no plausible evidence of the 

24 innocence of the Castro regime in the crash, leaving 

25 the circumstances of the death of Oswaldo Paya ́ un26 known; 
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1 (6) opposition by Oswaldo Paya ́ to the Com2 munist Party of Cuba began at a young age, when 

3 he refused to become a member of the Young Com4 munist League as a primary school student, and 

5 continued through high school, when he publicly 

6 criticized the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the So7 viet Union; 

8 (7) the Communist Party of Cuba responded to 

9 the opposition by Oswaldo Paya ́ to the invasion of 

10 Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union by sending 

11 Oswaldo Paya ́ to a labor camp for 3 years; 

12 (8) Oswaldo Paya ́ forewent a chance to escape 

13 Cuba in the 1980 Mariel boatlift, deciding instead to 

14 continue the fight for democracy in Cuba, saying, 

15 ‘‘This is what I am supposed to be, this is what I 

16 have to do.’’; 

17 (9) by creating the Varela Project in 1998, 

18 Oswaldo Paya ́ demonstrated his staunch commit19 ment to peacefully advocating for freedom of speech 

20 and freedom of assembly for his fellow Cubans; 

21 (10) in recognition of his determination for po22 litical reforms through peaceful protests, Oswaldo 

23 Paya ́ was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom 

24 of Thought by the European Parliament in 2002 

25 and the W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award 
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1 from the National Democratic Institute for Inter2 national Affairs in 2003 and was nominated for the 

3 Nobel Peace Prize by former Czech President Va ́clav 

4 Havel in 2005; 

5 (11) on April 11, 2018, the Senate unanimously 

6 passed S. Res. 224, recognizing the sixth anniver7 sary of the death of Oswaldo Paya ́ Sardin ̃as, com8 memorating his legacy and commitment to demo9 cratic values and principles, and calling on the 

10 Cuban government to allow an impartial, third-party 

11 investigation into the circumstances surrounding his 

12 death; and 

13 (12) renaming the street in front of the Em14 bassy of Cuba in the District of Columbia after 

15 Oswaldo Paya ́ serves as an expression of solidarity 

16 between the people of the United States and the peo17 ple of the Cuba, who are engaged in a long, non18 violent struggle for fundamental human rights. 

19 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF OSWALDO PAYA ́ WAY. 

20 (a) DESIGNATION OF WAY.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The area between the inter22 sections of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller 

23 Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest and 

24 Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, District of 
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1 Columbia, shall be known and designated as 

2 ‘‘Oswaldo Paya ́ Way’’. 

3 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, 

4 map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of 

5 the United States to the area referred to in para6 graph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to 

7 Oswaldo Paya ́ Way. 

8 (b) DESIGNATION OF ADDRESS.— 

9 (1) DESIGNATION.—The address of 2630 16th 

10 Street, Northwest, Washington, District of Colum11 bia, shall be redesignated as 2630 Oswaldo Paya ́

12 Way. 

13 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, 

14 map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of 

15 the United States to the address referred to in para16 graph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to 2630 

17 Oswaldo Paya ́ Way. 

18 (c) SIGNS.—The District of Columbia shall construct 

19 2 street signs that shall— 

20 (1) contain the phrase ‘‘Oswaldo Paya ́ Way’’; 

21 (2) be placed immediately above existing signs 

22 at the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest and 

23 Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest 

24 and Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, Dis25 trict of Columbia; and 
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1 (3) be similar in design to the signs used by the 

2 District of Columbia to designate the location of 

3 Metro stations. 

Passed the Senate July 30, 2021. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2045 

AN ACT 

To designate the area between the intersections of 

lumbia, as ‘‘Oswaldo PayaStreet, Northwest in Washington, District of Cowest and 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, North-

 ́ Way’’.