Rosa María Payá Acevedo is a Cuban human rights defender, founder of the Cuba Decide movement, and executive director of the Foundation for Pan-American Democracy. She has built broad coordination among democratic forces in Cuba through the Freedom Accord and across the hemisphere through the Latin American Network of Youth for Democracy, which unites over 100 organizations across 20 countries. She also established the Transatlantic Parliamentary Forum to forge legislative alliances on human rights, and her work has driven action before the US Congress, the OAS, the UN, and the European Parliament. In 2025, OAS member states elected her as Commissioner to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for the 2026–2029 term. She holds a degree in physics from the University of Havana and a master’s in public administration from Columbia University.