Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB218 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 218
5	5	To designate the area between the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest
6	6	and Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid
7	7	Street, Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia, as ‘‘Oswaldo
8	8	Paya´Way’’.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	JANUARY23, 2025
11	11	Mr. C
12	12	RUZ(for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. CURTIS, and Mr. SCOTTof Florida)
13	13	introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
14	14	Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To designate the area between the intersections of 16th
17	17	Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th
18	18	Street, Northwest and Euclid Street, Northwest in Wash-
19	19	ington, District of Columbia, as ‘‘Oswaldo Paya´Way’’.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 3
23	23	Congress finds that— 4
24	24	(1) the revolution led by Fidel Castro in Cuba 5
25	25	in 1959 started 64 years of an ongoing dictatorship, 6
26	26	systemic human rights abuses, and a lack of basic 7
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29	29	•S 218 IS
30	30	freedom of press, religion, assembly, and association 1
31	31	that continue to this day under the Communist rule 2
32	32	of Rau´l Castro and his successor, Miguel Dı´az- 3
33	33	Canel; 4
34	34	(2) Oswaldo Paya´Sardin˜as was a Cuban polit-5
35	35	ical dissident and activist dedicated to promoting 6
36	36	democratic freedoms and human rights in Cuba; 7
37	37	(3) the Communist Party of Cuba has always 8
38	38	viewed individuals with a commitment to democracy 9
39	39	and freedom as a threat to the existence of the Com-10
40	40	munist Party of Cuba; 11
41	41	(4) on July 22, 2012, a violent car crash, wide-12
42	42	ly believed to have been carried out by the Castro re-13
43	43	gime, took the lives of Oswaldo Paya´and Harold 14
44	44	Cepero, another democratic activist; 15
45	45	(5) the official investigation conducted by the 16
46	46	Cuban regime into the crash has been demonstrated 17
47	47	to be compromised, and the Cuban regime has 18
48	48	blocked all efforts to conduct a credible and inde-19
49	49	pendent investigation into the crash, leaving the cir-20
50	50	cumstances of the death of Oswaldo Paya´unknown; 21
51	51	(6) opposition by Oswaldo Paya´to the Com-22
52	52	munist Party of Cuba began at a young age, when 23
53	53	he refused to become a member of the Young Com-24
54	54	munist League as a primary school student, and 25
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57	57	•S 218 IS
58	58	continued through high school, when he publicly 1
59	59	criticized the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the So-2
60	60	viet Union; 3
61	61	(7) the Communist Party of Cuba responded to 4
62	62	the opposition by Oswaldo Paya´to the invasion of 5
63	63	Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union by sending 6
64	64	Oswaldo Paya´to a labor camp for 3 years; 7
65	65	(8) Oswaldo Paya´forewent a chance to escape 8
66	66	Cuba in the 1980 Mariel boatlift, deciding instead to 9
67	67	continue the fight for democracy in Cuba, saying, 10
68	68	‘‘This is what I am supposed to be, this is what I 11
69	69	have to do.’’; 12
70	70	(9) by creating the Varela Project in 1998, 13
71	71	Oswaldo Paya´demonstrated his staunch commit-14
72	72	ment to peacefully advocating for freedom of speech 15
73	73	and freedom of assembly for his fellow Cubans; 16
74	74	(10) in recognition of his determination for po-17
75	75	litical reforms through peaceful protests, Oswaldo 18
76	76	Paya´was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom 19
77	77	of Thought by the European Parliament in 2002 20
78	78	and the W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award 21
79	79	from the National Democratic Institute for Inter-22
80	80	national Affairs in 2003 and was nominated for the 23
81	81	Nobel Peace Prize by former Czech President Va´clav 24
82	82	Havel in 2005; 25
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85	85	•S 218 IS
86	86	(11) on April 11, 2018, the Senate unanimously 1
87	87	passed S. Res. 224, recognizing the sixth anniver-2
88	88	sary of the death of Oswaldo Paya´Sardin˜as, com-3
89	89	memorating his legacy and commitment to demo-4
90	90	cratic values and principles, and calling on the 5
91	91	Cuban Government to allow an impartial, third- 6
92	92	party investigation into the circumstances sur-7
93	93	rounding his death; and 8
94	94	(12) renaming the street in front of the Em-9
95	95	bassy of Cuba in the District of Columbia after 10
96	96	Oswaldo Paya´serves as an expression of solidarity 11
97	97	between the people of the United States and the peo-12
98	98	ple of Cuba, who are engaged in a long, nonviolent 13
99	99	struggle for fundamental human rights. 14
100	100	SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF OSWALDO PAYA
101	101	´
102	102	WAY. 15
103	103	(a) D
104	104	ESIGNATION OFWAY.— 16
105	105	(1) I
106	106	N GENERAL.—The area between the inter-17
107	107	sections of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller 18
108	108	Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest and 19
109	109	Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, District of 20
110	110	Columbia, shall be known and designated as 21
111	111	‘‘Oswaldo Paya´Way’’. 22
112	112	(2) R
113	113	EFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, 23
114	114	map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of 24
115	115	the United States to the area referred to in para-25
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118	118	•S 218 IS
119	119	graph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to 1
120	120	Oswaldo Paya´Way. 2
121	121	(b) D
122	122	ESIGNATION OFADDRESS.— 3
123	123	(1) D
124	124	ESIGNATION.—The address of 2630 16th 4
125	125	Street, Northwest, Washington, District of Colum-5
126	126	bia, shall be redesignated as 2630 Oswaldo Paya´ 6
127	127	Way. 7
128	128	(2) R
129	129	EFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, 8
130	130	map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of 9
131	131	the United States to the address referred to in para-10
132	132	graph (1) shall be deemed to be a reference to 2630 11
133	133	Oswaldo Paya´Way. 12
134	134	(c) S
135	135	IGNS.—The District of Columbia shall construct 13
136	136	2 street signs that shall— 14
137	137	(1) contain the phrase ‘‘Oswaldo Paya´Way’’; 15
138	138	(2) be placed immediately above existing signs 16
139	139	at the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest and 17
140	140	Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest 18
141	141	and Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, Dis-19
142	142	trict of Columbia; and 20
143	143	(3) be similar in design to the signs used by the 21
144	144	District of Columbia to designate the location of 22
145	145	Metro stations. 23
146	146	Æ
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