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Join Rosa María Payá, founder of Cuba Decide and a commissioner on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and Hoover Senior Fellow, H.R. McMaster, as they discuss US-Cuba relations, Cuba’s deepening economic and humanitarian crisis, its internal challenges of governance and repression, and prospects for a more peaceful and secure future for the Cuban people.
Reflecting on the current crisis in Cuba, Payá and McMaster discuss worsening humanitarian conditions facing the country, including blackouts, food and medicine shortages, and mass emigration. They examine the legacy of Payá’s father, Oswaldo Payá, and democratic opposition movements such as the Varela Project, the Cuban regime’s use of repression and surveillance to maintain power, and the role of young Cubans demanding political change. The conversation also explores US policy toward Cuba, the effects of sanctions and international pressure, Cuba’s relationships with authoritarian regimes including Venezuela, Russia, China, and Iran, and the conditions Payá argues are vital for a democratic transition in Cuba.
Recorded on May 4, 2026.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Rosa María Payá is the founder of Cuba Decide and a commissioner on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She is the daughter of Oswaldo Payá, who led the Varela Project — a citizen initiative that invoked Cuba’s own constitution to demand a referendum on free elections, free assembly, and free expression. The regime responded in 2003 with what became known as the Black Spring, jailing 75 activists, many of them Varela organizers. Oswaldo Payá pressed on with his work until he died in a 2012 car crash that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights later concluded was caused by agents of the Cuban state. Rosa María has continued her father’s work, documenting abuses before international bodies and building support for a binding plebiscite on Cuba’s political future.
H.R. McMaster is the host of Today's Battlegrounds. He is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He was the 25th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984, McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Each episode features H.R. McMaster, in a one-on-one conversation with a senior foreign government leader to allow Americans and partners abroad to understand how the past produced the present and how we might work together to secure a peaceful and prosperous future. “Listening and learning from those who have deep knowledge of our most crucial challenges is the first step in crafting the policies we need to secure peace and prosperity for future generations.”
