The Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba highlights the “tireless career” of Oswaldo Payá’s daughter as a defender of “human rights, freedom of expression, and human dignity.”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 30 June 2025 — The opposition platform The Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) celebrated this Monday with “pride” in the election of Cuban Rosa María Payá as a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
In a statement, the group highlighted Payá’s “tireless career” as a defender of “human rights, freedom of expression, and human dignity.”
“The election of Rosa María Payá reaffirms the independence, credibility, and courage of the IACHR to safeguard fundamental freedoms and promote democratic renewal in the hemisphere,” the opposition group stated.
Payá, nominated by the United States, was elected on Friday as a new member of the IACHR.
Her election occurred in a vote held at the 55th OAS General Assembly in Antigua and Barbuda to select three of the seven IACHR commissioners.
“The election of Rosa María Payá reaffirms the independence, credibility, and courage of the IACHR in safeguarding fundamental freedoms.”
Rosa María Payá, founder of the organization Cuba Decide and daughter of the opposition figure Oswaldo Payá — whose death in 2021 the Commission formally attributed to the Cuban State — was the first person elected, with 20 votes.
The Donald Trump administration had strongly emphasized the need to appoint Payá to the Commission due to his harsh stance toward Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
For its part, the island’s regime called the new member of the IACHR a “mercenary” and claimed that she was elected under “pressure and blackmail” from the United States.
“Multiple pressures and threats, including blackmail claiming the United States would cut budgets for cooperation programs in the hemisphere, narrowly led to the election of notorious mercenary Rosa María Payá Acevedo,” the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
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