Rosa María Payá Acevedo

Rosa María Payá Acevedo (Havana, January 10, 1989) is a prominent Cuban activist for freedom and human rights. Daughter of the late democratic activist Oswaldo Payá, Rosa María holds a degree in Physics from the University of Havana and a Master's degree in Public Administration from Columbia University. In 2015, she founded Cuba Decide, a civic initiative and popular movement that promotes political and economic change toward democracy in Cuba through a plebiscite. As Executive Director of the Foundation for Panamerican Democracy, she has worked tirelessly to strengthen democratic movements throughout Latin America. She is also president of the Latin American Network of Youth for Democracy, an organization that seeks to strengthen, defend, and consolidate democracy throughout the region. In 2025, Rosa María Payá became a commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), becoming the first Cuban dissident to hold a position within this organization. Her work focuses on promoting the right of the Cuban people to decide their future through democratic processes, defending human rights, and working toward a peaceful transition to freedom in Cuba.