Cuban freedom fighter Regis Iglesias remembers his friend Oswaldo Paya
Regis Iglesias and Oswaldo Paya, prior to the “black spring” of 2003.
Regis Igelesias is one of the former Cuban Group of 75 prisoners of conscience arrested during the “black spring” crackdown of 2003 because of his activism alongside other members of the Christian Liberation Movement.
He also is my friend.
Writing from exile, which he was forced to take as a condition of his release in 2010, Iglesias remembers the final days before his arrest. And the last time he saw his friend, mentor and founder of the MCL, Oswaldo Paya, who last summer died in a mysterious car crash:
At 9 am I called tía Beba’s house. I was waiting to hear Efrén answer the phone as usual and update me on the early news of that March 19th day, as we did every day. The day before I had called in the morning and asked him to ask Oswaldo if my presence was necessary in the neighborhood of el Cerro. I wanted to dedicate the afternoon to getting together with the Citizen Committee of the 10 de Octubre district, and check on the march for the signature collection campaign in support for the Varela Project demand. After checking in with Oswaldo, he gave me the green light.
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