Rosa María Payá, in the hours of 2026: “We Cubans are ready for the transition”

MIAMI, United States. – Rosa María Payá, founder of the platform Cuba Decides and member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), stated in a post on X that “2025 leaves Cuba in a humanitarian catastrophe caused by the dictatorship” and maintained that, facing 2026, the “demand of the people” is “a total change of the system”, while asking governments to “take a step forward” and support a “free” Cuba.

Payá spread his message accompanied by a video in which he insisted that the opposition and organizations inside and outside the Island must enter the new year with a defined strategy. “We have to tell the world very clearly, we Cubans are ready for change and we Cubans are ready to make it (…). It is not the time to improvise. It is the time to have a plan, it is the time to have a roadmap and it is the time to implement it until the end,” he assured.

In the same video, the activist linked her call to the idea of ​​coordinating efforts between exile actors and opposition groups, pointing out that “Cubans on the Island, Cubans in exile, organizations, the opposition” must act with foresight and without improvisations. He also attributed part of the preparatory work to these networks, despite the repressive conditions in the country: “The organizations that we can are doing it despite the fact that the leadership within the Island is in jail (…); it is being done from Pasos de Cambio; and the Anti-Communist Foundation is a signatory of the Agreement for Democracy, because what is coming for Cuba is freedom.”

Payá is one of the most visible figures of Cuban opposition activism abroad. She was born in Havana in 1989, has a degree in Physics from the University of Havana and a graduate of the Global Competitive Leadership program at Georgetown University, in addition to serving as executive director of the Foundation for Pan American Democracy.

At the regional level, her name gained greater institutional weight this year, when she was elected as a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The Organization of American States (OAS) reported in a statement On June 27, Payá was elected for a four-year period, which begins on January 1.

Cuba at the gates of 2026

Cuba reaches the turn of the year with an energy crisis that affects daily life and aggravates the economic deterioration. On December 3, the country suffered a partial collapse of the electrical grid that left Havana and several western provinces without service. However, before that incident, large areas of the country had been suffering daily blackouts of up to 20 hours or more.

This electrical instability is due to an aging generation system, maintenance deficit and fuel problems.

In parallel, international organizations describe in Cuba a picture of economic contraction, persistent inflation and shortages of essential goods, with a direct impact on food. The World Food Program (WFP/WFP) Indian that in 2024 Cuba registered a GDP contraction of 1.1% and that the country is suffering a prolonged recession with “persistent inflation”, a drop in fiscal resources and fuel shortages; He added that limited access to foreign currency has markedly reduced the availability of national and imported food and that the state’s monthly basket, “almost entirely imported,” has suffered “shortages and delays” in distribution, according to reports from the Government itself.

In public health, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has warned that the concatenation of disasters and the “repeated disconnections” of the National Electrical System (SEN) complicate emergency response and recovery, in a context of outbreaks and risk of communicable diseases. In its “crisis situation” page on CubaPAHO also points out shortages of reagents and laboratory supplies for diagnosis, antibiotics and other medications, as well as basic supplies for the operation of services.

From July until this week, authorities have recognized more than 50,000 cases of chikungunya and 55 deaths from arboviruses (dengue and chikungunya), although independent organizations indicate that the figures are higher.

On the other hand, according to the NGO Prisoners Defenders, there are currently more than 1,000 political prisoners in Cuba.