Remembering Cuban martyr and dissident Harold Cepero on what would have been his 41st birthday

"Whoever destroys a single life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed the whole world, and whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world." - Mishnah  (1135-1204)

Harold Cepero Escalante

Harold Cepero Escalante was born in Ciego de Avila on January 29, 1980 and was murdered by the Cuban dictatorship together with Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas in Bayamo, Granma on July 22, 2012. Harold was a member of the Christian Liberation Movement and a youth leader. Harold understood that those who engaged in repression were also not free stating "[t]hose who remove and crush freedom are the real slaves."

MTR @RosaMariaPaya Today Harold would be 41 years old, if the hatred of those who hold power in #Cuba had not taken his life more than 8 years ago. He was exactly the age I am now. An age similar to that of those who demand freedom in front of the MinCult and the Capitol today. https://t.co/opt1z6dA5t

— Center for Free Cuba (@cubacenter) January 29, 2021

Today would have been his 41st birthday, but thanks to the Castro regime's secret police his life was ended eight years ago at the age of 32.

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero Escalante

Harold understood the dangers of advocating for freedom in Cuba under the Castro dictatorship. In 2012, shortly before his death he explained the cost of resistance: "Christians and non-Christians who have the courage and the freedom to consider the peaceful political option for their lives, know they are exposing themselves to slightly less than absolute solitude, to work exclusion, to persecution, to prison or death."

This courageous young man is remembered and the demand for justice continues.  The petition demanding an international investigation into the circumstances of Harold and Oswaldo's killing on July 22, 2012 has crossed 10,000 signatures.