When we achieve justice we can build a new society

"When we achieve justice we can build a new society" / 14ymedio, Ofelia
Acevedo, Mario Penton, Luz Escobar

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Luz Escobar, Miami, 22 July 2016 – His name is
tattooed on the skin of a Cuban graffiti artist (Danilo Maldonado, known
as El Sexto) or is suggested by the letter L, standing for Liberty,
formed by the angle between the index finger and the thumb, increasingly
displayed by those asking for democracy. The legacy of Oswaldo Payá
Sardiñas (1952-2012) and Harold Cepero (1980-2012) lives on in the
nation for which they worked their hearts out and ultimately sacrificed
their lives. Four years after the tragic crash that claimed their lives,
and that their families and international organizations have classified
as a settling of accounts by the repressive Cuban apparatus, 14ymedio
speaks with Ofelia Acevedo, widow of Payá, former president of the
Christian Liberation Movement (MCL).

14ymedio: A few days ago the one year anniversary of the reopening of
the embassies between the United States and Cuba was celebrated. Could
we be closer to justice in the case of Harold Cepero and Oswaldo Payá?

Acevedo: The restoration of diplomatic relations has been good. It is
clear that it is the Cuban government that does not continue the normal
process that this rapprochement should take. On the other hand, justice
is the most important step to achieve real change in the Cuban nation.
To look forward in our country we need justice. The Christian tradition
makes it very clear: if there is a recognition of the truth, there will
be justice and forgiveness.

Once we have achieved justice we can talk about reconciliation between
Cubans. We Cubans must seek it, starting by reclaiming our rights. This
is a key step for the future. The greatest injustice is to deprive the
Cuban people of our rights, because of this there has been so much
misery and we have not progressed. Human rights are natural and inherent
in the person. When we achieve justice we can build a new society, and
for this it is important that this crime does not go unpunished.

14ymedio: How has the family faced the loss of your husband?

Acevedo: We are a very close family. We love each other very much and
miss him so much. We live in our faith that sustains us. Our faith makes
us believe that truth, justice and democracy are possible for our
people. All of Oswaldo's work is imbued with a great deal of hope, of
Christian hope. That is what helps us go on in the midst of the adverse
environment in which we sometimes live. Oswaldo believed greatly in the
betterment of humanity and in the individual, as José Martí said. He
looked for ways to give Cubans the tools to decide their future. He
understood that change begins with the ability to decide. He affirmed
that dialog is the only way to change Cuba, an unconditional dialog, one
without exclusions and among all Cubans.

14ymedio: How do you perceive the Cuban opposition four years after the
death of its most prestigious leader?

Acevedo: In Cuba there are probably more opponents than there were in
Central Europe in 1989. The Cuban opposition has done a great job. We
know that the government and intelligence services create moles,
"construct" figures, infiltrate groups, defame and blackmail their
opponents. This has existed and does exist, they are intransigents with
those who don't think like they do and who have the courage to raise
their voice to express it. We Cubans who want changes have to think for
ourselves and think about others, think about the Cuban people. We have
to forget about egos and go where the people are to explain what are the
steps for them to begin to demand their own rights, because they are the
ones who should decide. We have to be with the people in this.

14ymedio: What happened to the Christian Liberation Movement after the
death of Oswaldo Payá?

Acevedo: The movement received a very strong blow with the death of
Oswaldo and Harold. Even before, the persecutions against them were very
strong. It was the movement that had the most political prisoners and
they were all exiled to Spain without the option to stay. At this time,
within Cuba, the MCL is decimated, is my impression. The repression
against them is very strong.

14ymedio: How was the experience of exile for your family? Will you
return to Cuba?

Acevedo: My family never thought of going into exile. After Oswaldo's
murder I made the decision to go into exile for my children, because
State Security was focused on my oldest son. They prevented my daughter
Rosa María from starting work at a research center where she already had
a place. I panicked and decided to leave because of "them" (State
Security). Friends, neighbors, everyone was terrorized, because the
whole world knew what had happened and that they enjoy total impunity.

I am working as a teacher and wondering when I can return to my country.
I want to return to Cuba, but I hope that things improve because it
costs me a lot to have to face them. My rejection of them is huge. I
know I have to deal with them but it's very difficult, because of what
they are doing, what they did, how they have made my family and our
people suffer.

Acevedo: The only meeting I had with them was a week after Oswaldo's
funeral. They called me in to ask if I was going to ask from
compensation from Angel Carromero [the leader of the youth organization
New Generations of the Popular Party of Madrid, who was driving the car
in which Payá died and who was convicted of manslaughter). I told them I
would not accept their version and I wanted to talk with the survivors.
They never granted me that. The Cuban penal code does not give the
victims a chance. My children were not allowed to attend the trial,
which the regime had announced would be public. There was an immense
repression in Bayamo [where the trial was held]. We could not carry out
any legal action because a lawyer friend of the family said there was no
chance to demand anything because of the criminal code.

I asked the government and the hospital for the autopsy report. They
have never given it to me. I spoke to State Security, with Legal
Medicine. Everyone told me that the hospital had to give me the report.
The hospital administration, at six in the evening, after I did whatever
paperwork was possible, told me to send it to them by mail and gave me a
telephone number. The number didn't work and we are still waiting on the
autopsy. I wrote to the minister of Public Health. Rosa María tried to
deliver a letter to the Cuban embassy, but they wouldn't even let her
enter the diplomatic site. Then we sent the letter in Cuba and we we had
a receipt for it, but they have never answered.

14ymedio: What did Aron Modig (former leader of the Swedish Christian
Democrat Party youth organization who was also in the car at the time of
the crash) say about the day he Payá and Harold died?

Acevedo: Modig maintains his position. He doesn't remember anything
until reaching the hospital. It is a selective loss of memory. To me
there are things that bother me sometimes in the media, because they
talk about an accident, when we all know that it was a murder. A report
by the international organization The Human Rights Foundation and
another by physics professors at Florida International University
demonstrated that it is impossible for [the crash] to have happened in
the way the Cuban State says it did.

14ymedio: What legacy have Harold Cepero and Oswaldo Payá left?

Acevedo: The blood of freedom fighters is the seed of free men. This
applies to Harold, Oswaldo, to all who have given their lives for human
rights. The blood of innocent people, those who give their lives for
others, is not spilled in vain. They crashed Oswaldo's cars* when he was
in the street. We keep fighting to give the Cuban people the possibility
of deciding, which was Oswaldo's fight as well. The Cuban government, in
exchange, fights to destroy Cubans' hopes.

*Translator's note: There was a similar incident with another vehicle
Oswaldo Payá was traveling in prior to the fatal crash.

Source: "When we achieve justice we can build a new society" / 14ymedio,
Ofelia Acevedo, Mario Penton, Luz Escobar – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/when-we-achieve-justice-we-can-build-a-new-society-14ymedio-ofelia-acevedo-mario-penton-luz-escobar/