Cuban Dissident Wins Human Rights Prize
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The European Parliament awarded the European Union’s top human rights prize to Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, chief promoter of a reform initiative in the Communist nation.
The initiative, known as the Varela Project, became the most serious internal political challenge to date faced by Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
It resulted in May in a petition for a referendum on political reforms, such as freedom of expression and an amnesty for political prisoners. Castro, in power since a 1959 revolution, has so far only responded to the petition by saying it would get a response “in due course.”
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