Cruz Pushing for Street Name Change at Cuban Embassy

Sen. Ted Cruz, in a stand against the continued oppression of Cuba's government, is pushing to have the street in front of Cuba's embassy in Washington, D.C., renamed after the late Oswaldo Payá, a dissident whose death led to accusations that the Cuban government had him killed.

"On one level, a street naming may not seem all that consequential," the Texas Republican said, reports The Houston Chronicle. "But it means that if anybody wants to write the embassy, they have to write out the name of the dissident. If anyone wants to look up directions, they have to see the name of the dissident. There is power in forcing the Cuban regime to acknowledge the courage, the heroism of Oswaldo Payá."

Cruz said he's targeting the Cuban government because even though dictator Fidel Castro is dead, "the brutal regime remains. The machinery for crushing dissent remains."

Payá, who was nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize, founded the Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba in the 1980s, and in the 1990s, he pushed for a referendum to expand freedom of expression, assembly, and civil rights.

He died in 2012 in a car crash. The Cuban government claims the car went out of control, but his daughter insists the car was deliberately forced off the road.

The senator pushed bipartisan legislation through the Senate for the name change, but it did not pass the then-Democrat-controlled House. He said chances are more likely for it to pass the House now. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, has filed the House bill.

Cruz was able to pass similar legislation out of the U.S. Senate in 2021 with bipartisan support. Cruz, one of three senators of Cuban descent, has noted that his father and aunt, both born on the island, were captured and tortured by Cuba's dictator-run government. His father, Rafael, was imprisoned by dictator Fulgencio Batista's regime, and his aunt, Sonia Lourdes, was later imprisoned by Castro's government.

Cruz's state of Texas has an estimated 120,000 Cuban Americans living there, totaling more than any other state than Florida, according to the U.S. Census.

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