Free Republic

--- Americans and Cubans who have wanted for decades to hold the island’s dictatorship accountable for its human rights crimes absorbed a tough blow. But if the Obama administration won’t give them the right Cuba policy, Congress can award them an important and symbolic concession: Rub a reminder of the regime’s brutality in its face, every day, by renaming the street where its embassy stands in D.C. after one of its victims, the slain opposition leader Oswaldo Payá. --- To keep the memory of the regime’s victims alive, Congress can rename Washington’s 16th Street Northwest, where the newly reopened embassy...

Cruz, Diaz-Balart, Ros-Lehtinen send letter to Secretary Kerry calling for investigation into treatment of Cuban dissidents WASHINGTON, D.C. - Following this week's opening of the Cuban Embassy, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today introduced legislation to rename the street where the embassy is located as "Oswaldo Payá Way" in honor of Cuba's late leader in democratic movements. The bill serves as a tribute to those who have contested the cruelty and oppression of the Castro regime. "The opening of the Cuban Embassy is yet another example of the Administration's long, slow capitulation to oppressive dictatorships around the globe. The Castros...

Czech President Vaclav Havel spoke for the first time Monday to the man he is championing for a Nobel Peace Prize -- from a telephone behind the reception desk at the Biltmore Hotel, just before his black-tie dinner. ''I send my warmest embrace to you and the Czech people,'' Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas told Havel. ``Tell them that the Cuban people are already on the path to liberty.''Havel replied with a promise of ``my support, and that I hope that all your goals for the Varela Project come true.''Payá cousin Francisco de Armas, acting as an English-Spanish translator, relayed the exchange,...