MADRID, Spain.- Cuban activist Rosa María Payá responded to President Claudia Sheinbaum’s accusations and assured that her visit to Mexico was of an “academic nature”, carried out “in a personal capacity” and outside of an official mission.
Rosa María Payá, daughter of Cuban oppositionist Oswaldo Payá, He is part of the IACHR and his visit to Mexico led to questions from the Mexican Government about whether he acted in an institutional framework or in a personal capacity.
In a message spread on social networks, the founder of Cuba Decide added that “defending democracy is not military”, it is a right that she exercises “with transparency and a responsibility to which she has dedicated her life.”
Payá’s statements come after Sheinbaum publicly criticizethis Wednesday, the presence in the country of a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to participate—as she said—in actions “against Cuba.” The president maintained that, if someone comes “on behalf” of the organization, their role should be limited to receiving complaints and reviewing complaints, not “military” for a political cause.
Sheinbaum stated that he asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for information about the trip, after learning of press reports about Payá’s participation in activities related to Cuba without there being official evidence of an institutional agenda of the IACHR.
In her speech, the president mentioned article 33 of the Mexican Constitution, which provides for the possibility of expulsion of foreigners for carrying out political activities. However, she stressed that she is not in favor of applying it and framed her position around the need to “inform” about what happened.
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Sheinbaum also alluded to the existence of digital platforms linked – according to his version – to right-wing organizations that spread disqualifications and false information against his government.
At the end of January, the official newspaper Granma public an article in which he questioned Payá’s role as a member of the IACHR and his participation in forums on Cuba, alleging that this type of appearance could compromise the “appearance of independence” of the organization and presenting his career as aligned with Washington’s interests. With his recent statements about Payá’s visit, Sheinbaum once again places himself in a position of harmony with the Cuban Government’s discourse, by assuming the public activism of a figure critical of the regime as problematic.
Last June, Rosa María Payá was elected as a new member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), during the 55th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), held in Antigua and Barbuda. His election came after a vote to fill three of the body’s seven seats.
During that Assembly, Christopher Landau, then appointed by President Donald Trump as undersecretary of state, intervened publicly to support his candidacy. In his speech before the vote, he urged member countries to support it and stressed that the IACHR should prioritize “the most serious and pressing human rights abuses and violations, especially where domestic remedies are not available.”
