Rosa María Payá

Rosa María Payá is a Cuban human rights and democracy activist and the daughter of slain Cuban democracy activist Oswaldo Payá. She is a graduate of the University of Havana and Georgetown University’s Global Competitive Leadership Program. She is the founder of Cuba Decide, a grassroots campaign to foster democracy in Cuba, and president of the Latin American Youth Network for Democracy, which aims to strengthen, defend, and consolidate democracy throughout the region. She has spoken at many forums including the UN Human Rights Council, the Oslo Freedom Forum, and the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. She has met with heads of state, members of parliament, and civic and spiritual leaders around the world. People en Español named her one of the most powerful Latina women of 2014. In 2018, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation released an episode of its Witness Project video series in which Rosa María shares her father’s story and describes what his legacy means for her generation of freedom-loving Cubans.