Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba
June 27, 2025
For months, the United States Secretary of State unleashed an operation to attempt to transform a prominent member of his roster of salaried defenders of the blockade and aggression against Cuba into an impartial human rights expert.
Despite the dignified, courageous, and legitimate position of numerous governments in Our America, multiple pressures and threats, including the blackmail that the United States would cut budgets for cooperation programs in the hemisphere, led to the narrow election of the notorious mercenary Rosa María Payá Acevedo as Commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
However, the Secretary of State's efforts, which he made a priority of his Department to whitewash the candidate's record, did not erase the new Commissioner's shameful record of supporting coups d'état, spreading lies, and promoting military interventions and economic warfare policies in the region.
As confirmed by the Independent Panel for Evaluating Candidacies for the Inter-American Human Rights System, Payá Acevedo "demonstrated limited knowledge of international human rights standards, jurisprudence, or doctrine," and her political activity "may call into question the appearance of independence in the judgment of a reasonable observer."
The Center for Economic and Policy Research issued a special report on this candidate in which it stated that "Ms. Payá's public record demonstrates a repeated disregard for human rights and international law in this area" and that she disseminated "disinformation about the governments of OAS member states."
The Secretary of State, with his delusional anti-Cuban obsession and contempt for Our America, has succeeded in imposing one of his favorite employees to defend coercive policies that are universally rejected.
Facts like this demonstrate that hemispheric relations need a profound transformation.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is being used right now by the United States Secretary of State as part of his immoral campaign against Cuba's medical cooperation. To this end, he has unprecedentedly required all OAS member states to respond to a detailed questionnaire about the agreements they have or have had with Cuba regarding health cooperation, which many consider an unprecedented request and a violation of state sovereignty.
Cuba reiterates that it does not, and will not, recognize any moral or legal authority for the OAS or any of its officials and subsidiary or autonomous bodies.
(Cubaminrex)