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 Paya Way".

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 Wash- ington, District of Columbia, as ‘‘Oswaldo Paya´ Way’’. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2 † S 2045 ES SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds that— 2 (1) the revolution led by Fidel Castro in Cuba 3 in 1959 started 61 years of an ongoing dictatorship, 4 systemic human rights abuses, and a lack of basic 5 freedom of press, religion, assembly, and association 6 that continue to this day under the Communist rule 7 of Rau´l Castro and his successor, Miguel Dı´az- 8 Canel; 9 (2) Oswaldo Paya´ Sardin˜as was a Cuban polit- 10 ical dissident dedicated to promoting democratic 11 freedoms and human rights in Cuba; 12 (3) the Communist Party of Cuba has always 13 viewed that commitment to democracy and freedom 14 as a threat to the existence of the Communist Party 15 of Cuba; 16 (4) on July 22, 2012, a violent car crash, wide- 17 ly believed to have been carried out by the Castro re- 18 gime, took the lives of Oswaldo Paya´ and Harold 19 Cepero, another dissident; 20 (5) the official investigation into the crash has 21 been demonstrated to be compromised, and the Cas- 22 tro regime has offered no plausible evidence of the 23 innocence of the Castro regime in the crash, leaving 24 the circumstances of the death of Oswaldo Paya´ un- 25 known; 26 3 † S 2045 ES (6) opposition by Oswaldo Paya´ to the Com- 1 munist Party of Cuba began at a young age, when 2 he refused to become a member of the Young Com- 3 munist League as a primary school student, and 4 continued through high school, when he publicly 5 criticized the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the So- 6 viet Union; 7 (7) the Communist Party of Cuba responded to 8 the opposition by Oswaldo Paya´ to the invasion of 9 Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union by sending 10 Oswaldo Paya´ to a labor camp for 3 years; 11 (8) Oswaldo Paya´ forewent a chance to escape 12 Cuba in the 1980 Mariel boatlift, deciding instead to 13 continue the fight for democracy in Cuba, saying, 14 ‘‘This is what I am supposed to be, this is what I 15 have to do.’’; 16 (9) by creating the Varela Project in 1998, 17 Oswaldo Paya´ demonstrated his staunch commit- 18 ment to peacefully advocating for freedom of speech 19 and freedom of assembly for his fellow Cubans; 20 (10) in recognition of his determination for po- 21 litical reforms through peaceful protests, Oswaldo 22 Paya´ was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom 23 of Thought by the European Parliament in 2002 24 and the W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award 25 4 † S 2045 ES from the National Democratic Institute for Inter- 1 national Affairs in 2003 and was nominated for the 2 Nobel Peace Prize by former Czech President Va´clav 3 Havel in 2005; 4 (11) on April 11, 2018, the Senate unanimously 5 passed S. Res. 224, recognizing the sixth anniver- 6 sary of the death of Oswaldo Paya´ Sardin˜as, com- 7 memorating his legacy and commitment to demo- 8 cratic values and principles, and calling on the 9 Cuban government to allow an impartial, third-party 10 investigation into the circumstances surrounding his 11 death; and 12 (12) renaming the street in front of the Em- 13 bassy of Cuba in the District of Columbia after 14 Oswaldo Paya´ serves as an expression of solidarity 15 between the people of the United States and the peo- 16 ple of the Cuba, who are engaged in a long, non- 17 violent struggle for fundamental human rights. 18 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF OSWALDO PAYA´ WAY. 19 (a) DESIGNATION OF WAY.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The area between the inter- 21 sections of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller 22 Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest and 23 Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, District of 24 5 † S 2045 ES Columbia, shall be known and designated as 1 ‘‘Oswaldo Paya´ Way’’. 2 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, 3 map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of 4 the United States to the area referred to in para- 5 graph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to 6 Oswaldo Paya´ Way. 7 (b) DESIGNATION OF ADDRESS.— 8 (1) DESIGNATION.—The address of 2630 16th 9 Street, Northwest, Washington, District of Colum- 10 bia, shall be redesignated as 2630 Oswaldo Paya´ 11 Way. 12 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, 13 map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of 14 the United States to the address referred to in para- 15 graph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to 2630 16 Oswaldo Paya´ Way. 17 (c) SIGNS.—The District of Columbia shall construct 18 2 street signs that shall— 19 (1) contain the phrase ‘‘Oswaldo Paya´ Way’’; 20 (2) be placed immediately above existing signs 21 at the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest and 22 Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest 23 and Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, Dis- 24 trict of Columbia; and 25 6 † S 2045 ES (3) be similar in design to the signs used by the 1 District of Columbia to designate the location of 2 Metro stations. 3 Passed the Senate July 30, 2021. Attest: Secretary. 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2045 AN ACT To designate the area between the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, North- west and 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, District of Co- lumbia, as ‘‘Oswaldo Paya´ Way’’.