Whether he could have launched a Velvet Revolution like his late Czech friend Vaclav Havel did will remain forever a mystery. But even in death, Oswaldo Paya, the prominent Cuban dissident who died in a questionable car crash Sunday, still appears to be rattling the island.
Paya was "more than a dissident," reads an op-ed by Spanish newspaper El Pais. His death "means a major setback for the future of democracy in Cuba," it said.
As 60-year-old Paya was buried Tuesday, Cuban police reportedly beat and arrested at least 40 of his supporters who shouted "Libertad!" (freedom) at the funeral ceremony.
Among them was another leading dissident Guillermo Farinas, reported French wire AFP. Farinas is a winner of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought — just like Paya was.
The BBC reports that most of those detainees, including Farinas, have since been freed.
But not without a word from Washington, first.
Here's a statement issued Wednesday by the White House:
President Barack Obama reportedly called the Paya family to offer condolences, telling them Oswaldo Paya had been "a tireless champion for greater civic and human rights in Cuba."
Paya's family has been vocal about challenging the official version of what Cuba's Granma newspaper called "an unfortunate traffic accident."
The crash also killed another passenger, Harold Cepero, and injured a Spaniard and a Swede traveling with them.
Paya's daughter and son have told reporters the activist had been receiving threats and that his car was more likely forced off the road by other motorists out to kill him.
Cuban police said they are investigating the circumstances of the crash.
"Why would the Cuban government regard Paya as enough of a threat to want him killed?" asked Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy, in this Washington Post op-ed. Apparently, Paya's resume for activism was formidable. Gershman sums it up:
The article adds that Vaclav Havel, the late Czech playwright and dissident-turned-president, campaigned hard for Paya to win a Nobel Peace Prize, to no avail.
Now what's needed are detailed testimonies from the survivors: Jans Aron Modig and Angel Carromero, who was driving. That would help clear up this mystery. Until then, many seem to hold Paya's enemies — namely the Cuban government — accountable. The growing temptation to deem Paya a martyr will be too great to resist.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/chatter/oswaldo-paya-martyr-cuban-dissident