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Rosa María Payá publicly thanked the Florida Senate and Senator Alexis Calatayud for issuing an official proclamation recognizing the Release Agreement as "the path to freedom and democracy in Cuba."
The document, signed by Calatayud on behalf of District 38 in southern Miami-Dade, represents the first formal legislative endorsement from an elected state official of the agreement, recognized by the Florida Senate as a roadmap towards a free and democratic Cuba.
"A vital step in recognizing that a free Cuba is of great interest to Florida, the U.S., and the world," Payá wrote on his X account. "Cubans have a plan and the responsibility to embrace the transition that Cuba urgently needs."
The proclamation states that the Cuban people have endured more than six decades under a communist dictatorship and that the Agreement was developed by leaders of the democratic opposition, civil society, and pro-democracy movements to establish a peaceful and orderly transition.
On the same day, the Florida Congress gave a standing ovation to a group of Cuban opposers who visited the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Among those present were José Daniel Ferrer García, Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, Alian Collazo, and Krista Schmidt, as well as Payá herself.
"We have just been surprised with an honor at the Florida State Congress," wrote Ferrer García on his Facebook account after the recognition of Cuban opponents at the Florida Congress.
The Liberation Agreement was signed on March 2 in Miami by the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, led by Gutiérrez-Boronat, and the coalition Steps for Change, headed by Payá, along with more than 30 organizations of the Cuban exile community.
The plan proposes a roadmap in three phases: liberation — which includes the end of the regime and the immediate release of more than 1,000 political prisoners —, stabilization with a provisional government and humanitarian assistance, and democratization with internationally supervised free elections.
The proclamation comes at a time of intense mobilization from the exile community. Just two days earlier, the Cuban exile gathered at Bayfront Park under the slogan "United for a Free Cuba," an event broadcast live to the island via Radio Martí and TV Martí.
At that demonstration, Payá called on governments and politicians from around the world to join the international effort: "I hope more and more governments decide to unite forces with the most important ally the Cuban people have at this moment, which is the government of the United States, under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Marco Rubio."
The context is one of maximum diplomatic tension: the Cuban regime rejected Washington's ultimatum to release high-profile political prisoners, and its ambassador to the UN stated that "internal matters regarding detainees are not part of the negotiating table."
Senator Calatayud, 30 years old and of Cuban descent, represents one of the areas with the highest concentration of Cuban Americans in Florida and won her seat in November 2022 with 54.4% of the votes.
Its proclamation is the first formal state legislative act in support of the Liberation Agreement, which the document itself defines as the pathway for "the peaceful liberation, stabilization, reconstruction, and democratization of Cuba."
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