This Monday, Payá also called on Cubans to demonstrate in front of the headquarters of the regime’s consulates in several cities around the world, on the occasion of Human Rights Day.
MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban activist Rosa María Payá Acevedo received the keys to the city of Miami this Monday from Mayor Francis Suárez, a recognition that she described as an honor loaded with “gratitude and responsibility” and that she directly linked to her campaign in favor of the freedom of Cuba and the political prisoners of the regime.
In a post on your Facebook profilePayá dedicated the recognition to “those people who rarely appear in the photo, but who are indispensable” so that she herself can “move forward,” and mentioned her mother, her brothers, her boyfriend and her entire family.
The opposition member stressed that she shares the gesture with her closest political and personal support environment: “It is also for the friends who have never stopped supporting me, who support my work and make it possible for me to move forward even in the hardest moments.” In the same message he thanked the local authorities: “Thank you, Government of Miami, for opening paths and accompanying us in the defense of freedom. I share this honor with all of you,” he wrote.
In a video that he also posted on his Facebook wall When she left the city, the Cuban woman “profoundly” thanked Mayor Francis Suárez and all the commissioners for having given her the keys to “a city that has been a refuge for so many Cubans.”
He also took advantage of the announcement to call for demonstrations on December 10, Human Rights Day, in several capitals around the world and, in particular, in front of diplomatic headquarters of the Cuban regime. “Today, along with thanking the mayor of this city for handing over the keys, I want to invite you all, all those who are listening to us at this moment, to see each other on December 10 in all the capitals, in most of the cities the protests will be in front of the consulates of the Cuban dictatorship,” he stated.
In the same video, Payá described the situation on the Island in terms of a humanitarian emergency and directly blamed the current political system and said that the country “is going through the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the last 60 years.”
The opponent raised the need for the diaspora and citizens within the Island to see these protests as a sign of support and international pressure. “That is why I want to invite you to see us this December 10 to send a message to the Cuban people that they are not alone, that freedom is close but depends on each one of us and to tell the world that we Cubans are ready to recover our freedom,” he concluded.
Rosa María Payá, daughter of the deceased opposition leader Oswaldo Payais one of the most visible figures of Cuban pro-democratic activism in exile. According to her public biography, she is a Cuban activist for freedom and human rights. The young Cuban is the founder of the Cuba Decide initiative, a platform that promotes a democratic transition on the Island through a binding plebiscite and the end of the single-party system.
At the end of last June, Payá was elected to join the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). “Deeply honored by the trust that the States of the Americas place in me today to defend the human rights of all. Thank you to the United States for the audacity of a candidacy as extraordinary as mine. It will be an honor to serve the people of the Americas,” declared Payá at that time.
The election of Rosa María Payá, whose candidacy was presented by the United States Department of State at the end of March, was seen as a bold bet and a political gesture of support for Cuban dissidents and democratic voices in the region.
