Widow of Oswaldo Payá sues former diplomat accused of spying for Cuba in Miami

The widow of the opposition leaderOswaldo Payá Sardiñas initiated legal action against the former US diplomatVictor Manuel Rocha, whopleaded guilty to spying for the Cuban regime after having been discovered last December by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Ofelia Acevedo Mauda, widow of the human rights defender who died in dark circumstances, filed a lawsuit on Thursday, February 29, against Rocha in Miami-Dade County, whom she accuses of being an accomplice to the crimes committed by the dictatorship whileagent at the service of Cuban intelligence for four decades.

“I am looking for what I have always looked for: truth, justice and for the regime and its accomplices to stop acting with impunity,” said Acevedo Mauda when presenting the lawsuit, just the day Payá Sardiñas would have celebrated her 72nd birthday.

The promoter of the Varela Project, one of the most lucid and bold opponents in his proposal for change based on civil society, was allegedly murdered by the Cuban regime in 2012. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ruled in that sense (IACHR) in a landmark 2023 verdict, which determined thatThe Havana regime was responsible for the death of the leader of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL).

At the time of Payá's death, the spyRocha collaborated with Cuban intelligence while advising US national security officials, he noted in astatement the platformCuba Decide, driven by the opponent's daughter,Rosa María Payá Acevedo, with the aim of continuing his father's work, promoting the holding of free elections and a peaceful transition of power in Cuba.

Who died in 2012 after a suspicious car accident, Payá Sardiñas was already recognized internationally as a key figure for the transition to democracy in Cuba. The Varela Project managed to gather more than 10 thousand signatures from citizens, as contemplated by the Cuban Constitution to carry out popular legislative initiatives.

Rocha's collaboration with the regime, described by the United States Attorney General asone of the deepest penetrations of the US government by a foreign agent, and maintained for more than 40 years, was recently discovered.

“Rocha played a decisive role in perpetuating a terrorist regime "that undermines the national security interests of the United States, oppresses the Cuban people and threatens peace in the region," declared Rosa María after the presentation of her mother's lawsuit against the Havana spy.

Filed by Continental, a Florida-based law firm, the lawsuit alleges that Rocha “directly assisted Cuban officials by providing them with critical information he obtained through his top-secret security clearance and influential roles”.

Furthermore, he maintains that “Cuba would not have been able to execute Mr. Payá with impunity without the accusedconspired and provided intelligence and aid to the Cuban dictatorship”, from his position as a State Department official with access to the most sensitive intelligence in the United States.

Sakharov Prize for Human RightsEuropean Parliament, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas was traveling by car with the MCL activist,Harold Cepero Escalante, when they were hit by another vehicle that ran them off the road. Traveling with them were two European politicians who witnessed that both opponents were alive after the impact.

TheState Security He brutally pressured the witnesses despite their status as European citizens and carried out a series of maneuvers to prevent the family from carrying out an independent autopsy and clarifying the facts in a fair and impartial trial, with the presence of international observers.

“My father would have celebrated his 72nd birthday tomorrow, February 29,” his daughter said. “We remain firm in continuing the work that he started until the Cuban people achieve the freedom that the regime and its accomplices unjustly deny them.”