Oswaldo Payá's widow is grateful that the US Senate asks to investigate her husband's death

Miami, July 20 (EFEUSA).- The call by the US Senate to clarify the death of Oswaldo Payá, which occurred five years ago, is a show of "solidarity" that alleviates the "hard battle" of his family, he said today Ofelia Acevedo, widow of the former leader of the Cuban dissident.

In statements to Efe, Acevedo pointed out that "we believe that support in this sense will help us a lot on this path, it is a difficult path, but support and solidarity are fundamental for us."

US Senators called this Wednesday for an "impartial" investigation to clarify the circumstances of Payá's death in Cuba, whose death marks five years this Saturday, July 22.

Acevedo, exiled in Miami, stated that since her husband's disappearance the family's main battle has been to "demand an independent investigation to clarify the death" and to make known Payá's "legacy of democracy for Cuba."

"He is irreplaceable in our family," Acevedo said sadly, but noted that they remain united "trying to fight by all means to achieve an independent investigation."

Payá was the promoter of the Varela Project, which promoted a referendum in defense of freedom of expression and assembly.

"Solidarity to the people of Cuba is very important so that they can decide for themselves, that was what Oswaldo promoted with the Varela Project, and now my daughter (Rosa María Payá)," he added.

She (Rosa María), he assured, "has assumed with all her strength her father's legacy of fighting for all possible peaceful means to achieve democracy on the island."

"People in Cuba want change, they are trapped by a regime that has imposed a culture of fear," he added.

The dissident, who founded the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) in 1988 to promote democracy and civil liberties through nonviolent resistance in Cuba, died in July 2012 along with fellow Cuban dissident, Harold Cepero, after hitting a tree the vehicle in which they were traveling and which was driven by Ángel Carromero, a Spanish conservative politician.

The dissident's daughter, Rosa María Payá, insists that her father's death was a murder orchestrated by the Havana authorities, which is based on a report by the international organization Human Rights Foundation (HRF) that points to "solid indications." "that the car in which Payá and his companions were traveling was hit by another.