"This is the first time Cubans on the island and in the rest of the world are working together as one, because Cuba has only one future," Paya said.
But the moderate leader's call to dialogue with the Cuban government has enemies within the recalcitrant anti-Castro exile groups, mostly based in Miami.
"They attack us systematically. They are bombarding this dialogue," Paya said.
Miami hard-liners want a leading role in a post-Castro Cuba, but the transition will be decided firstly by Cubans living in Cuba, Paya said. "This is not a pie to be shared out," he said.
Within Cuba, the fledgling dissident movement remains divided and infiltrated by government informants.
A rival group founded by economist Martha Beatriz Roque, the Assembly to Promote Civil Society, is planning an unprecedented public meeting scheduled for May 20.
Roque, one of the 75 jailed dissidents, has set about organizing hundreds of small groups, such as rights groups and independent libraries, since she was released from prison in July for health reasons.
Paya said his followers would not go to Roque's meeting because it represented only part of the dissident movement, while his effort was aimed at a national dialogue.***
We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.
Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty - though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.
Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:
All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you. ....***