Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas posthumously honored with the Truman Reagan Medal of Freedom. By Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter.+ Video.
11-06-2018
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas posthumously honored with the Truman Reagan Medal of Freedom Remembering the courage of those who resist. By Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter June 9, 2018
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas: February 29, 1952 – July 22, 2012
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in posthumously honoring Oswaldo Payá with the Truman Reagan Medal of Freedom is bearing witness, continuing the demand for justice, and demonstrating solidarity with Cubans seeking to live in freedom.
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas was murdered together with Harold Cepero on July 22, 2012 by a regime that feared his civic and nonviolent message that spoke truth to power and endangered their plans for a fraudulent transition that is now underway that seeks to entrench another generation of the Castro dynasty in absolute power in Cuba.
Yesterday Oswaldo's daughter, Rosa Maria Payá, and widow Ofelia Acevedo received the Medal of Freedom on his behalf. The ceremony began with presentations by Lee Edwards and Marion Smith of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Rosa Maria continues her father's work in the Cuba Decide initiative.
Today, his successor in the Christian Liberation Movement, Eduardo Cardet is an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience and has been jailed since November 30, 2016.
Past recipients of the award include: H.E. Mart Laar, Hon. Natan Sharansky, Chen Guangcheng, Hon. Lech Wałęsa, Pope John Paul II, H.E. Václav Havel, Wei Jingsheng, Elena Bonner, and Lane Kirkland.
Below is an excerpt from the ceremony.
Victims of Communism Truman Reagan Medal of Freedom winner Oswaldo Paya Published by Jessica Fernández June 8, 2018
Victims of Communism hosted the 11th Annual Roll Call of Nations Wreath Laying Ceremony and Presentation of the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom. Received by Rosa Maria Paya and Ofelia Acevedo Paya.