Activist Rosa María Payá Acevedo, founder of the Cuba Decide initiative, condemned the communist regime’s human rights abuses at the United Nations and called for Cuba’s expulsion from the United Nations Human Rights Council, as did Russia.
Rosa María Payá Acevedo is the daughter of Cuban leader Oswaldo Payá, founder of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), whose death is unknown in July 2012.
In a video published on April 5 by his Facebook account, Payá said that they, along with “several dissidents, opponents and human rights defenders from Tibet to Ukraine” denounced human rights violations in their countries during a conference or press conference at the Human Rights Council building of the United Nations.
We denounce that in our countries “not only are people being arbitrarily detained or their human rights being violated, but also that many of our countries are represented on this Human Rights Council and should not be,” he said.
The press conference came a day ahead of the 2022 Geneva Summit on Human Rights and Democracy, which will bring together leaders, activists and former political prisoners to address urgent human rights situations.
The event was organized by United Nations Watched, a human rights organization that monitors the UN’s adherence to the principles set out in its charter and whose headquarters are in Geneva.
Referring to the vote that would take place on April 7 at the UN General Assembly to decide whether Russia should be expelled from the Human Rights Council, Payá demanded that “the Cuban dictatorship be expelled from this council, as it would remove anyone is one of the dictatorships that sit there.”
“It’s a shame that the Cuban regime sits on this council where other democracies like the UK sit,” he said.
On April 7, the UN General Assembly suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council in a historic decision, expressing “great concern about the current human rights situation and the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine,” a country it visited on February 24 invaded militarily.
In the case of the island, the founder of Cuba Decide denounced that “the Cuban regime is causing one of the biggest refugee crises in recent memory, with almost 50,000 Cubans fleeing the dictatorship in the last five months”.
He also denounced the poverty of “many Cuban families” for whom “it is almost impossible to make it to the end of the week, often at the end of the day, on two meals”; and spoke about the “more than a thousand political prisoners in Cuban prisons, of whom at least 14 children aged 16 or 17 were sentenced to up to 18 years in prison”.
“Today we denounce that reality and call for what is most important at this time, which is the support of the international community, the Human Rights Council,” which “is a United Nations space where dozens of countries come together to advocate people.” analyze and protect rights around the world,” he stressed.
The activist also denounced that Cuba “signed a military and strategic pact with Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, whom she accused of committing a “genocide in the city of Bucha in Ukraine” where dozens of dead civilians were found became.
Payá reported that at the press conference he explained “how relations between Russia and the Cuban regime are strengthening and deepening,” stressing that “it is shameful that the Putin regime and the Castro regime have signed a strategic and military agreement.” have signed”.
“It is shameful that the world knows that the Putin government has said it is possible that military troops, soldiers, will be sent to Cuba. It is shameful that the world knows and has not acted yet that Vladimir Putin’s regime has threatened a second missile crisis in Cuba,” he added.
He also criticized the fact that this “pact” with the Cuban regime “is being made behind the backs of the Cuban people, who took to the streets on July 11 and made it very clear that they did not want this regime”.
On July 11, 2021, after several decades, a multitude of Cubans raised their voices to demand the end of the communist dictatorship established 62 years ago by the late Fidel Castro and now led by his successor, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
“I don’t expect much from the United Nations,” Payá said, but he assured that the conference was a great opportunity to “denounce the regime, its terror against the Cubans, the state terrorism it uses every day against political prisoners, against… Mothers of political prisoners, against every Cuban who raises his voice.”
Furthermore, he warned that “this regime is not only a danger to the Cuban people, but a danger to the entire hemisphere” since Cuba is “the best ally of the murderer, the genocidal Vladimir Putin in America.” “
With this in mind, he reiterated his call for Cuba to be expelled. “It’s time for the Human Rights Council, of course not everything, because there is a part that is a dictatorship, but the part of the Human Rights Council that is a democracy, it’s time for them to react, and since they will throw at Russia that they also throw Castros out of a council seat”.
In conclusion, he encouraged his compatriots abroad to attend the “Meeting of all Cuban Associations in Europe” in Madrid (Spain) on Saturday April 9, where they will agree on measures to “support the Cuban people”, such as sanctions ‘ against the Cuban regime and ‘the European Union Cooperation Agreement’ with the island.