On February 22, 2017, Rosa Maria Payá, President of the Latin-American Youth Network for Democracy (JuventudLAC), and several Cuban activists held a ceremony to present Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of the American States (OAS), with the “Oswaldo Payá Prize” in Havana, Cuba. Almagro planned to receive the award in person, but the Cuban government blocked him from entering the country. Officials from the Cuban Consulate told Almagro that his entry was denied because the government does not recognize the prize, and considers Cuba Decide to be an anti-Cuba group. Rosa Maria also leads the Cuban citizen initiative Cuba Decide, which promotes the introduction of a “binding plebiscite in Cuba” as a way to exchange the country’s current authoritarian government with a democratic system. Cuba Decide presents the Oswaldo Payá Prize to individuals who’ve worked to promote human rights in Latin America. The award is in commemoration of Rosa Maria’s father, a pro-democracy Cuban activist who died in a tragic car accident in 2012.

Both Mariana Aylwin, the former Chilean Education Minister, and Felipe Calderon, the former President of Mexico, were denied entry to Cuba because they planned to attend the Oswaldo Payá Prize ceremony. The Cuban government also denied entry and detained JuventudLAC member and Chilean student activist, Juan Carlos Vargas, who was on his way to attend the event. Vargas’s passport was seized and Cuban authorities put him on a plane to Panama, from where he returned to Chile. Read JuventudLAC’s latest statement “For Liberty and Life” to learn more about the ceremony.