Naman Shrestha
Helmed by award-winning Chinese-American director Nanfu Wang, HBO’s ‘Night Is Not Eternal’ is a documentary movie focusing on the political situation in Cuba, mainly through the perspective of Rosa María Payá Acevedo. The film also follows her struggle for freedom as she raises her voice against injustice for several years. Thus, it is natural for questions to arise in the minds of the viewers about different aspects of her life and her current whereabouts.
Rosa María Payá Blamed the Cuban Government For Her Father’s Death
On January 10, 1989, in Havana, Cuba, activist and head of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Payá, and his wife, Ofelia Acevedo de Payá, gave birth to a daughter named Rosa María Payá Acevedo. From her early days, Rosa watched her father fight for the freedom of the Cuban people, along with her two brothers — Oswaldo José and Reinaldo Isaías. As she grew up, she inherited a strong sense of patriarchy from his father and wished to play a part in the eradication of communism.
In the summer of 2012, particularly on July 22, Oswaldo Paya allegedly died during an accident. When Rosa heard the news, her entire world turned upside down. Sure that the government was involved in murdering her father, Rosa even demanded an independent investigation into the case of her father’s death. When the International Human Rights Agency got involved in the investigation, they found the Cuban government directly connected to the murder. To carry on his legacy, Rosa continued his activism for democratic reforms in the country.
Rosa María Payá Has Collected Many Accolades During Her Stint as an Activist
Apart from earning a Physics degree from the University of Havana and graduating from the Global Competitive Leadership program at Georgetown University, Rosa María Payá also took a course and studied photography. As the years went on, her career as an activist flourished as he earned the support of the Cuban people. In 2009, she was already a member of the Redaction Council of Somos Liberación and an integral part of the Coordination Team of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL). In 2015, she founded an international nonprofit organization called Cuba Decide, with the primary aim of bringing change to Cuba’s political system. That same year, she was named President of the Latin American Network of Young People for Democracy.
In the previous year, she was hailed as one of the 25 most powerful Latin women of 2014 by People en Español magazine. She also got in some trouble with the government in Panama as she was detained in April 2014 before the Summit of the Americas for her move of political intimidation. Having spent more than a decade promoting democracy in Cuba, Rosa has been the recipient of many prestigious awards and recognitions, including the Casa Cuba Award in Tampa, Florida, the Morris Abram Human Rights Award granted by UN Watch, the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI) Ileana Ros-Lehtinen International Leadership Award in 2020 for her global advocacy and leadership, and the Keys to the City of Miami.
The Cuban activist has also appeared before several international forums throughout her activism, such as the European Parliament, the Summit of the Americas, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and the Organization of American States, to name a few. In 2018, the Cuban activist became an integral part of the Global Americans New Generation of Public Intellectuals Initiative. More recently, Rosa has shifted her focus to becoming a contributor to periodical publications like The Washington Post and CNN in order to amplify her voice against the dictatorship in Cuba. Still fighting for her native country’s freedom, she runs Cuba Decide from Miami, Florida, hoping to turn the situation around.
Miami-based Rosa María Payá Continues to Speak Her Mind on the Political Situation of Cuba
Continuing to raise her voice against dictatorship in Cuba, Rosa María Payá resides in the Miami area with her mother, Ofelia Acevedo de Payá. Every once in a while, the pair travels back to their home country. Still feeling the void that the death of her father, Oswaldo Payá, left in her heart, she cherishes the moments she shared with him and finds inspiration from his activism to continue hers. In July 2024, she remembered Oswaldo on his death anniversary.
“Today marks 12 years since the Castro brothers killed my father in a desperate attempt to stop his fight for freedom, and they failed,” she wrote on social media. Besides speaking against dictatorship, she also talks about how “Communism is responsible for the deaths of more than 100 million people.” After Donald Trump was elected as the President in November 2024, she congratulated him and said, “I look forward to working together to support our struggle for Libertad para Cuba essential for peace & prosperity in our hemisphere.”
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