Three years ago today, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a Cuban human rights activist, was murdered by the Castro dictatorship. Orlando had been engaged in a hunger strike to protest his treatment and the treatment of other political prisoners at the hands of the barbaric Castro dictatorship when his body finally gave out. He could no longer physically tolerate the abuse of the relentless and merciless beatings by his captors and the Cuban regime's refusal to give him water and medical treatment.

At that moment, his death was nothing more to the Cuban regime than the welcomed elimination of yet another enemy of the revolution. Just another name to add to the long list of Cubans whose lives have been snuffed out by a brutal and vicious dictatorship. What the Castro regime did not expect, however, was the outcry Zapata's death would cause throughout the world.

They did not expect Orlando's name to be repeated all over the internet on thousands of websites. They did not expect to see hundreds of thousands of tweets with the #OZT hash tag or Orlando's picture appearing on hundreds of thousands of Facebook walls. The Cuban dictatorship thought they had killed just another nameless, faceless dissident that no one knew and no one cared about. They were so wrong.

Three years later, the memory of Orlando Zapata Tamayo lives on. The struggle for freedom and liberty in Cuba he gave his life for lives on. His courage, his determination, and his words continue to inspire freedom lovers and terrifies the murderous dictatorship in Cuba. Orlando Zapata Tamayo Lives!

¡Zapata Vive!

Read more about the anniversary of Zapata's murder at Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter.