Give me Liberty_ The True Story of Oswaldo Paya

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post reporter David E. Hoffman comes the riveting biography of Oswaldo Payá, a dissident who dared to defy Fidel Castro, inspiring thousands of Cubans to fight for democracy. Oswaldo Payá was seven years old when Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba, promising to create a "free, democratic, and just Cuba." But Castro instead created an authoritarian regime with little tolerance of free speech or thought. His secret police were trained to crush dissent by East Germany's ruthless Stasi. Throughout Cuba's 20th century history, the dream of democracy was often just within reach, only to be dashed by dictatorship and revived again by a new generation. Payá inherited this dream and it became his life's work. As a teenager in Communist Cuba, he led a protest against the Soviet-led shattering of the Prague Spring. Before long, he was sent to Castro's forced labor camps. Payá later became a leading voice of opposition and formed a pro-democracy movement. A devoted Catholic, he championed a simple, bedrock belief that rights are bestowed by God, and not the state. Every day, he witnessed these rights trampled in Cuba. He could not stay silent. Payá's most daring challenge to the Cuban government was the Varela Project, a one-page citizen petition demanding free speech, a free press, freedom of association, freedom of belief, private enterprise, free elections and freedom for political prisoners. More than 35,000 people signed the Varela Project, an extraordinary outpouring of protest—with nothing more than pen and paper—against Castro's decades of despotism. The regime responded by ignoring the petition, arresting dozens of Payá's followers and sending them to prison for many years. After receiving multiple death threats, Payá was killed in a suspicious car wreck on a remote country road. Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter David E. Hoffman returns with an epic portrait of a lone individual who had the courage, faith, and persistence to struggle for democracy against an unforgiving dictator. At its heart, Give Me Liberty is a sweeping account of one country's tragic and continuing struggle for its freedom. Title Page Dedication Epigraph Prologue Part I: Search for Liberty Chapter One: Agony of the Republic Chapter Two: To Tyranny and Back Chapter Three: “Bite, Rooster!” Part II: Fidel Chapter Four: The Firebrand Chapter Five: The Guerrilla Chapter Six: “Jury Of A Million” Chapter Seven: The Silencing Part III: Give Me Liberty Chapter Eight: The Secret Library Chapter Nine: Defiance Chapter Ten: “Faith and Justice” Chapter Eleven: The Movement Chapter Twelve: The Stasi Lessons Chapter Thirteen: Rebellion of the Souls Chapter Fourteen: Rafts of Despair Chapter Fifteen: The Varela Project Part IV: The Black Spring Chapter Sixteen: The Black Spring Chapter Seventeen: Under Siege Epilogue Photographs Acknowledgments About the Author Notes Index Copyright From the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David E. Hoffman comes the riveting biography of Oswaldo Paỳ, a dissident who dared to defy Fidel Castro, inspiring thousands of Cubans to fight for democracy.