III 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 226 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the street between the intersections 

of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th Street, 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 21, 2015 

Mr. CRUZ submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the street between 

the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller 

Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid 

Street, Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia, 

should be designated as ‘‘Oswaldo Paya ́ Way’’. 

Whereas Fidel Castro and Raul Castro have been the autocratic rulers of the Republic of Cuba for 56 years; 

Whereas Fidel Castro and Raul Castro have relentlessly and 

consistently oppressed any efforts to bring democratic 

freedoms and human rights to the people of the Republic 

of Cuba for this 56-year period; 


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•SRES 226 IS 

Whereas Oswaldo Paya ́ was a Cuban political dissident dedicated to promoting democratic freedoms and human 

rights in the Republic of Cuba; 

Whereas the Communist Party of Cuba has always viewed 

such commitment to freedom as a threat to its existence; 

Whereas, on July 22, 2012, a violent car crash, widely believed to have been carried out by the Castro regime, took 

the lives of Paya ́ and Harold Cepero, another dissident; 

Whereas the official investigation into the crash has been 

demonstrated to be compromised and the Castro regime 

has offered no plausible evidence of its innocence, leaving 

the circumstances of the death of Paya ́ unknown; 

Whereas opposition by Paya ́ to the Communist Party of Cuba 

began at a young age, when he refused to become a member of the Young Communist League as a primary school 

student, and continued through high school when he publically criticized the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union; 

Whereas the Communist Party of Cuba responded to the opposition by Paya ́ to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the 

Soviet Union by sending Paya ́ to a labor camp for 3 

years; 

Whereas Paya ́ forewent a chance to escape the Republic of 

Cuba in the 1980 Mariel boatlift, deciding instead to continue the fight for democracy in the Republic of Cuba, 

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

I have to do.’’; 

Whereas by creating the Varela Project in 1998, Paya ́ demonstrated his staunch commitment to peacefully advocating for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly for 

his fellow Cubans; 


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•SRES 226 IS 

Whereas in recognition of his determination for political reforms through peaceful protests, Paya ́ was awarded the 

Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European 

Parliament in 2002, the W. Averell Harriman Democracy 

Award from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in 2003, and was nominated for the 

Nobel Peace Prize by former Czech President Va ́clav 

Havel in 2005; and 

Whereas renaming the street in front of the Embassy of the 

Republic of Cuba in the District of Columbia after Paya ́

serves as an expression of solidarity between the people 

of the United States and the people of the Republic of 

Cuba who are engaged in a long, non-violent struggle for 

fundamental human rights: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 

2 (1) the street between the intersections of 16th 

3 Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, Northwest and 

4 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid Street, North5 west in Washington, District of Columbia, should be 

6 designated as ‘‘Oswaldo Paya ́ Way’’, and any ref7 erence in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 

8 or other record to that area should be deemed to be 

9 a reference to ‘‘Oswaldo Paya ́ Way’’; 

10 (2) the address of 2630 16th Street, Northwest, 

11 Washington, District of Columbia, should be redesig12 nated as 2630 Oswaldo Paya ́ Way, and any ref13 erence in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 

14 or other record of the United States to that address 


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•SRES 226 IS 

1 should be deemed to be a reference to 2630 Oswaldo 

2 Paya ́ Way; and 

3 (3) the Administrator of General Services 

4 should construct street signs that— 

5 (A) contain the phrase ‘‘Oswaldo Paya ́

6 Way’’; 

7 (B) are similar in design to the signs used 

8 by Washington, District of Columbia, to des9 ignate the location of Metro stations; and 

10 (C) should be placed on— 

11 (i) the parcel of Federal property that 

12 is closest to Oswaldo Paya ́ Way (as de13 scribed in paragraph (2)); and 

14 (ii) the street corners of 16th Street, 

15 Northwest and Fuller Street, Northwest 

16 and 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid 

17 Street, Northwest in Washington, District 

18 of Columbia. 

Æ 


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