Oswaldo PayáCuban dissident Oswaldo Payá, who just last week proposed a new democratic constitution for Cuba, on Wednesday will receive an honorary law degree from Columbia University in New York.
"As a Cuban, I am proud," Payá said earlier this month. "This is a recognition of our people and their rights."
Not known is whether Fidel Castro — who holds final say whenever a Cuban wants to leave the island — will let Payá attend.
Whatever Castro decides, Payá's message of freedom and democracy has already been heard at Columbia.
On its Web site, Columbia praises Payá as being "a vocal advocate for nonviolent change in Cuba."
"As director of the Varela Project, he spearheaded a petition drive signed by more than 11,000 people seeking a referendum on personal, political and economic rights. An engineer by training, Payá also has received honorary degrees from the University of Miami and the New School University. In December 2002, the European Parliament awarded Payá the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Payá also embarked on an international tour that included meetings with Pope John Paul II and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell in January 2003," the Web site states.
When the invitation to Payá was announced earlier this month, Columbia Professor Gustavo Perez-Firmat, a native of Cuba, said the school was not trying to make a political statement.
"It's not about Castro or Cuban exiles, it's not a political statement," he said. "It's a recognition of his human rights work."
That's exactly why no one should be surprised if Castro says, "No."
The United Nations notwithstanding, Cuba under Castro is a human rights hell. There are none of the basic rights and freedoms that Payá and others have been advocating for years, putting what little freedom they do have at risk.
Among the rights not honored by Castro is the right to leave your country whenever you want. The whole island is a prison.
But maybe Castro will let Payá go to New York and hope he will defect, ridding him both of a leading critic and his powerful message.
"In truth, Castro could pick up the phone and have Mr. Payá's travel documents ready in hours if he wanted to," the Wall Street Journal wrote in an editorial on Friday. "What's stopped him from doing that is not a concern about defection. What worries the regime most, in fact, is that Mr. Payá has chosen to remain in Cuba.
"That gives his words and actions powerful credibility abroad. He can't be dismissed, by Havana or its admirers in the West, as just another rabid Miami exile. He doesn't let himself get drawn into polarizing arguments about U.S.-Cuba relations. He has told foreigners that his debate is in Cuba, with Castro, and he simply wants to be able to exercise his basic human rights.
"Whether Mr. Payá makes it to New York by Wednesday or not, Cubans struggling for democracy — in their homes or in prison — have taken the news from Columbia as a sign of moral solidarity and will feel stronger for it," the Wall Street Journal wrote.
That struggle is often not seen or heard in America, and even less often, acknowledged. For too long, Castro has enjoyed the benefits of our ignorance, using it oppress and repress his people.
Fortunately, Columbia University has chosen to stand up with Payá and others fighting, and suffering, for freedom in Cuba.
Hail, Columbia, indeed.
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