Rosa María Payá responded harshly this Monday to the publication by the Cuban Ministry of Interior (MININT) on X, which reported on the meeting between Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, held on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Payá, commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), sent a direct message to Türk via the same social media platform: «Wash your hands, because @BrunoRguezP's are stained with the crimes against humanity of his superiors».
The activist described the publication from MININT as coming from "the office of torturers" and characterized that institution as "the agency responsible for torturing political prisoners, assassinating dissenters —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 the MININT— the body 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 top UN human rights official, the regime aims to project an image of openness and dialogue precisely at a time when the international community is intensifying its discussion about the situation in Cuba.
The episode takes place during a week of intense diplomatic activity regarding 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 "strong>will never be able to work” because they have “bloodstained hands,” while simultaneously opening the door to collaborate with other figures within the regime willing to promote a transition toward freedom.
Rodríguez Parrilla responded to Rubio with the phrase «Lie, lie again» in an interview with NBC News, and in his meeting with Türk, he reaffirmed the Cuban government's commitment to «continuing to guarantee the exercise of all human rights for all Cubans», according to the official 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 under circumstances that the regime classified as a traffic accident.
The IACHR concluded in June 2023 that there are “serious and sufficient indications” of the involvement of state agents 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 IACHR for the period 2026-2029, which grants her an institutional platform from which she amplifies her allegations regarding the situation in Cuba.
Days before this episode, I had presented at Florida International University a democratic transition plan for the island within the framework of the Liberation Agreement signed in March 2026.
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