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 Payá Way".

Bill: 117-hr-6867
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Diaz-Balart, Mario [R-FL-25]
Introduced: 2022-02-28
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Caribbean area

Congressional tributes

Cuba

District of Columbia

Government buildings, facilities, and property

Human rights

Latin America

Protest and dissent

Roads and highways
Latest action: action_date: 2022-02-28
text: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-02-28
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This bill designates the area between the intersections of 16th Street, NW and Fuller Street, NW and 16th Street, NW and Euclid Street, NW in the District of Columbia as <i></i> Oswaldo Paya Way. </p>

tv_txt: I 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 6867 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 28, 2022 Mr. Diaz-Balart (for himself, Ms. Wasserman Schultz , Ms. Salazar , Mr. Sires , Mr. Gimenez , and Mrs. Murphy of Florida ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL 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 Payá Way .

1. Findings Congress finds that— (1) the dictatorship imposed by Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1959 started 61 years of an ongoing dictatorship, systemic human rights abuses, and a lack of basic freedom of press, religion, assembly, and association that continue to this day under Communist rule; (2) Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas was a Cuban prodemocracy activist dedicated to promoting democratic freedoms and human rights in Cuba; (3) the Communist Party of Cuba has always viewed that commitment to democracy and freedom as a threat to the existence of the Communist Party of Cuba; (4) on July 22, 2012, a violent car crash, widely believed to have been carried out by the Castro regime, took the lives of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero, another prodemocracy activist; (5) the regime in Cuba has offered no plausible evidence of the innocence of the Castro regime in the crash, leaving the circumstances of the death of Oswaldo Payá suspicious; (6) opposition by Oswaldo Payá 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 publicly criticized the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union; (7) the Communist Party of Cuba responded to the opposition by Oswaldo Payá to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union by sending Oswaldo Payá to a labor camp for 3 years; (8) Oswaldo Payá forewent a chance to escape Cuba in the 1980 Mariel boatlift, deciding instead to continue the fight for democracy in Cuba, saying, This is what I am supposed to be, this is what I have to do. ; (9) Oswaldo Payá repeatedly demonstrated his staunch commitment to peacefully advocating for freedom of speech, religious liberty, and freedom of assembly for his fellow Cubans; (10) in recognition of his determination for political reforms through peaceful protests, Oswaldo Payá was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament in 2002 and 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 Václav Havel in 2005; (11) on April 11, 2018, the Senate unanimously passed S. Res. 224, recognizing the sixth anniversary of the death of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, commemorating his legacy and commitment to democratic values and principles, and calling for an impartial, third-party investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death; and (12) renaming the street in front of the Embassy of Cuba in the District of Columbia after Oswaldo Payá serves as an expression of solidarity between the people of the United States and the people of Cuba, who are engaged in a long, nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights. 2. Designation of Oswaldo Payá Way (a) Designation of way (1) In general 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, shall be known and designated as Oswaldo Payá Way . (2) References Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to the area referred to in paragraph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to Oswaldo Payá Way. (b) Designation of address (1) Designation The address of 2630 16th Street, Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia, shall be redesignated as 2630 Oswaldo Payá Way. (2) References Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to the address referred to in paragraph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to 2630 Oswaldo Payá Way. (c) Signs The District of Columbia shall construct 2 street signs that shall— (1) contain the phrase Oswaldo Payá Way ; (2) be placed immediately above existing signs at the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia; and (3) be similar in design to the signs used by the District of Columbia to designate the location of Metro stations.