Cuban dissident leader Oswaldo Payá is one of 197 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to Catholic News Agency.
Information about who exactly is nominated in a given year is kept secret for 50 years, but Payá has been nominated before, according to various accounts, including by former Czech president Vaclav Havel. Also previously nominated were former political prisoner Raúl Rivero and current prisoner Oscar Elias Biscet.
We may quibble over which Cuban dissident is most deserving of the Nobel Prize. Some may argue that Payá, who has tried to work with the dictatorship's own rules, i.e. its constitution, to change it, is too accommodating — which is laughable considering how many members of his Christian Liberation Movement are in jail.
Others, including Biscet himself, might argue that he is no more deserving than any other political prisoner.
My choice? How could anyone dispute awarding the Damas De Blanco? Is there any better way to place a human face on the suffering in Cuba than by honoring the mothers, wives and daughters of political prisoners?
What should be inarguable is that the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to any member of the Cuban opposition would be welcome. Setting aside the questionable credentials of some past recipients, i.e. Yasser Arafat, Al Gore, etc., a Nobel Peace Prize would raise the public profile of those struggling for freedom on the island and deliver a powerful message to the dictatorship that its ways are no longer acceptable to the world.
Which, of course, is that while I am hopeful, I am not optimistic that this is the year that Cuba and Cubans get the recognition they deserve.