Congress members will host roundtable with pro-democracy Cuban activists in Miami

Two years after island-wide pro-democracy street protests erupted in Cuba, members of Florida’s congressional delegation will host a roundtable discussion on human rights and hear from leading Cuban activists Rose Maria Payá and Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat.

The roundtable will be held Monday morning in Hialeah Gardens at the Assault Brigade 2506 Museum and will include Republican Reps. Brian Mast, Mario Diaz-Balart and Maria Elvira Salazar, chair of the House western hemisphere subcommittee. Democrats scheduled to attend include Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Jared Moskowitz.

“Two years ago, we witnessed the ultimate act of patriotism, as the Cuban people risked their lives to demand respect for their fundamental rights,” Wasserman Schultz said. “Since then, the Cuban dictatorship doubled down on its oppression, subjecting over one thousand people who participated in the protest movement to violence, surveillance, and draconian jail sentences.”

On July 11, 2021, thousands of Cubans protested the constant electricity blackouts, shortages of food and medicine, and measures the Cuban government took to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Though the protests were peaceful, the Cuban government imprisoned more than 1,400 people who took part, according to the Cuban human rights group Cubalex Reports.

Monday’s event will highlight the plight of political prisoners such as rapper Maykel Osorbo and activist José Daniel Ferrer. Osorbo is serving a nine-year prison sentence for participating in a smaller protest in Havana in 2021. Ferrer was arrested for participating in the July 11 protests and has been in prison since.

“As Americans and members of Congress, we have a moral obligation to promote Cuban freedom and advocate for the release of July 11 political prisoners like Maykel Osorbo and Jose Daniel Ferrer,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul.

The roundtable will also highlight prominent community and religious leaders who have been detained by the Cuban regime.

Payá, who currently lives in Miami, founded the citizen initiative Cuba Decide which advocates for changing the political and economic systems in Cuba towards democracy. Her father, Oswaldo Payá, one of Cuba’s best-known dissidents, died in a car crash in 2012 that some witnesses have said was caused by Cuban state security.

Gutierrez-Boronat is an author and spokesperson for the Cuban Democratic Directorate, a U.S. group that supports the human rights movement in Cuba. He is also a coordinator for the Assembly of Cuban Resistance, a coalition of human rights groups.

Wasserman Schultz, who serves as a co-chair of the Congressional Cuba Democracy Caucus, said she is looking forward to the roundtable. “I want to assess how Congress can best help support the democratic aspirations of the Cuban people,” she said.

The roundtable will be live-streamed on YouTube at 10:30 AM on Monday, July 10.