Rosa María Payá reacted harshly this Monday to the publication by the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT) on X, which announced the meeting of Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, held on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Payá, commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), directed a direct message to Türk through the same social network: «Wash your hands, because those of @BrunoRguezP are stained with the crimes against humanity of his superiors».
The activist described the MININT publication as coming from "the office of the torturers" and characterized that institution as "the agency responsible for torturing political prisoners, murdering opponents —as they did with my father, Oswaldo Payá—, imprisoning minors for asking for freedom, and persecuting anyone who thinks differently in Cuba."
The publication by MININT— the agency responsible for internal security and political repression on the island— is not an innocent gesture: by publicizing the meeting between the foreign minister and the chief human rights official of the UN, the regime aims to project an image of openness and dialogue precisely at a time when the international community is intensifying its discussions about the situation in Cuba.
The episode takes place during a week of intense diplomatic activity concerning the island.
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on September 23, on the sidelines of the General Assembly, that there are Cuban officials with whom the United States “will never be able to work” because they have “blood-stained hands”, although he simultaneously opened the door to collaborate with other figures in the regime willing to promote a transition toward freedom.
Rodríguez Parrilla responded to Rubio with the phrase «Lies, lies again» in an interview with NBC News, and in his meeting with Türk, he reaffirmed the commitment of the Cuban government to «continue ensuring the exercise of all human rights for all Cubans», according to the government-aligned Granma.
The personal background of Payá is inseparable from his denunciation. His father, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, founder of the Christian Liberation Movement, died on July 22, 2012, along with Harold Cepero in circumstances that the regime described as a traffic accident.
The IACHR concluded in June 2023 that there are “serious and sufficient indications” of state agents' involvement in both deaths, and the U.S. Department of State stated in July 2025 that “the Cuban regime murdered” Payá and Cepero.
Payá was elected as a commissioner of the CIDH for the term 2026-2029, which grants her an institutional platform from which she amplifies her reports on the situation in Cuba.
Days before this episode, I had presented at the University of Florida a democratic transition plan for the island within the framework of the Liberation Agreement signed in March 2026.
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