The OAS elected Cuban dissident Rosa Maria Paya, a candidate from the United States, as a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on Friday during a general assembly in Antigua and Barbuda.

The daughter of the late Oswaldo Paya obtained 20 votes in the first round, two more than necessary, from the member countries of the Organization of the American States. She thus becomes the first Cuban to hold the position.

On the social network X, Rosa Maria Paya promised to “serve all the peoples of the Americas.”

“My priorities are clear: protect those who need it most, defend democracy, guarantee an effective and transparent commission, and bring the system closer to the most vulnerable,” listed the director of the Foundation for Pan American Democracy.

In her message, she lashed out at the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, which the head of US diplomacy, Marco Rubio, considers “enemies of humanity.”

“I was born under the longest and bloodiest dictatorship this continent has ever known. That tyranny has caused the collapse of democracy in Nicaragua and Venezuela and has unleashed the greatest migration crisis in our history. The Americas have paid a very high price for tolerating the Cuban regime for so long,” stated Paya.

“It is up to us, the women and men of the Americas, to finish off once and for all the head of the authoritarian octopus and all its tentacles, which have caused so much pain to our nations,” he added.

The United States campaigned intensively on behalf of the Cuban opposition leader, founder of Cuba Decide.

Third Commissioner Position Vacant

“Rosa María brings the dignity and determination needed to address the Commission’s greatest challenges with innovative solutions,” insisted Marco Rubio, a hawk opposed to the Castro government in Cuba, which has not participated in the OAS since 1962, this Friday morning.

Oswaldo Paya, winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Human Rights in 2002 and a political leader, and dissident Harold Cepero died in 2012 while traveling in a car near Bayamo, about 650 kilometers east of Havana.

In 2023, an IACHR report concluded that Cuban “state agents” participated in the deaths of the two dissidents.

Marion Bethel of the Bahamas was also elected IACHR commissioner in the first round. However, there is no consensus for the vacant third commissioner position.

The election will be between Mexican José Luis Caballero Ochoa and Brazilian Fabio de Sá e Silva, who advanced to the second round.

Mexico requested a recess to engage in negotiations before a third round. The new members will take office in January 2026 for a four-year term.

The IACHR has overseen the human rights obligations of member states for 65 years. Its seven commissioners are elected in a personal capacity.