2008 Woodie Awards
Activist encourages reform in Cuba
Glenn Galloway
Issue date: 1/15/03 Section: News
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by Glenn Galloway
On any given Friday, students fill the classrooms and halls of the Inter-Cultural Center. But when human rights activist Oswaldo Payá came to speak, the ICC auditorium contained an audience of a much older average age.
Although the speech was given in Spanish, the turnout was substantial. The earphone-clad heads of non-Spanish speakers dotted the rows. Two television cameras waited on stands for Payá's arrival.
And wait they did. The audience talked, squirmed and fidgeted with their translation headphones as organizers handed out pamphlets relating to Castro's oppression of Cubans. Finally, at 12:25 p.m., Oswaldo Payá entered the room.
The audience clapped and then went silent as Payá strode down the aisle. A middle-aged man, with only a slight greying in his hair, Payá is not immediately recognizable as a man who spent three years in a forced labor camp for championing human rights, or someone nominated by Czech President Vaclav Havel for the Nobel Peace Prize.
After two brief introductions from Arturo Valenzuela, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies, and Provost James O'Donnell, Payá commenced his speech, discussing a broad range of topics during the 30-minute talk.
He opened with a description of his efforts with the Varela Project, a movement that seeks to exploit a passage in the Cuban constitution that allows petitions receiving 10,000 signatures to become a referendum in the next election. The project, which calls for reforms in many areas, currently has over 11,000 signatures. Payá told of the government's current attempts to undermine the project by attempting to alter the constitution, in addition to the almost constant harassment and degradation the "rapid deployment forces" unleash on dissidents. Still, he remained hopeful, declaring, "Each Cuban who signs [the petition] breaks out of fear."
Payá then switched topics to the U.S. embargo of Cuba, calling it ineffective against the "privileged" who rule Cuba, and asking that food and medicine be allowed to enter the country. He quickly noted that Cuba's political and economic problems are the result of institutions within Cuba.
On any given Friday, students fill the classrooms and halls of the Inter-Cultural Center. But when human rights activist Oswaldo Payá came to speak, the ICC auditorium contained an audience of a much older average age.
Although the speech was given in Spanish, the turnout was substantial. The earphone-clad heads of non-Spanish speakers dotted the rows. Two television cameras waited on stands for Payá's arrival.
And wait they did. The audience talked, squirmed and fidgeted with their translation headphones as organizers handed out pamphlets relating to Castro's oppression of Cubans. Finally, at 12:25 p.m., Oswaldo Payá entered the room.
The audience clapped and then went silent as Payá strode down the aisle. A middle-aged man, with only a slight greying in his hair, Payá is not immediately recognizable as a man who spent three years in a forced labor camp for championing human rights, or someone nominated by Czech President Vaclav Havel for the Nobel Peace Prize.
After two brief introductions from Arturo Valenzuela, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies, and Provost James O'Donnell, Payá commenced his speech, discussing a broad range of topics during the 30-minute talk.
He opened with a description of his efforts with the Varela Project, a movement that seeks to exploit a passage in the Cuban constitution that allows petitions receiving 10,000 signatures to become a referendum in the next election. The project, which calls for reforms in many areas, currently has over 11,000 signatures. Payá told of the government's current attempts to undermine the project by attempting to alter the constitution, in addition to the almost constant harassment and degradation the "rapid deployment forces" unleash on dissidents. Still, he remained hopeful, declaring, "Each Cuban who signs [the petition] breaks out of fear."
Payá then switched topics to the U.S. embargo of Cuba, calling it ineffective against the "privileged" who rule Cuba, and asking that food and medicine be allowed to enter the country. He quickly noted that Cuba's political and economic problems are the result of institutions within Cuba.