Oswaldo Payá, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Oswaldo Payá

Cuban activist

Date of Birth: 29-Feb-1952

Place of Birth: Cerro, Havana, Havana Province, Cuba

Date of Death: 22-Jul-2012

Profession: politician, human rights activist, Varela Project

Nationality: Spain, Cuba

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas (29 February 1952 – 22 July 2012) was a Cuban political activist.
A Roman Catholic, he founded the Christian Liberation Movement in 1987 to oppose the one-party rule of the Cuban Communist Party.
He attracted international attention for organizing a petition drive known as the Varela Project, in which 25,000 signatories petitioned the Cuban government to guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of assembly as well as to institute a multi-party democracy.
In recognition of his work, he received the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize and People in Need's Homo Homini Award. On 22 July 2012, he died in a car crash under controversial circumstances.
The Cuban government stated that the driver had lost control of the vehicle and collided with a tree, while Payá's children and one of the car's passengers asserted that the car had been deliberately run off of the road.