Mr. President, last week the Senate passed legislation I helped lead with Senators Cruz, Menendez, and others that renames the street in front of the Cuban Embassy for Oswaldo Paya. Paya led a heroic and decades-long effort to bring basic democratic reforms to Cuba, which resulted in years of harassment that culminated in his death in 2012 when his car was run off the road by government thugs. And also last week, after years of urging by me and several colleagues, the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights released its verdict on this tragic event, confirming what we suspected all along, that the Cuban Government was responsible for his tragic death. This important judgement is a reminder that Paya's work and that of so many other brave Cubans fighting for basic freedoms remains a work in progress, one which I will continue to support. ____________________
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