Cuban opposition figure José Daniel Ferrer, who was in prison, left the country along with “members of his family” for the United States after a “formal request” from Washington to receive him, the island government confirmed this Monday through a statement.
In one press releasethe Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) assured that the decision was made after an “exhaustive evaluation by the Prosecutor’s Office of the legal situation of Ferrer”, who was serving a sentence of four years and six months.
Two sources close to the dissident confirmed to EFE at the beginning of the month that he was willing to go into exile, but without the island’s government using his departure in a “shameful” broader negotiation with the United States.
José Daniel Ferrer García leaves the country at the request of the US government
Communiqué from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
https://t.co/RMqhSKDDXN pic.twitter.com/1hEVtDKRYb
— Cuban Foreign Ministry (@CubaMINREX) October 13, 2025
His sister Ana Belkis Ferrer published a handwritten letter from the opponent on social media in which he assured that the Cuban authorities wanted him to “make statements or ask the US Embassy and the Catholic Church to start a dialogue.”
The opposition leader, one of the 75 political prisoners of the Black Spring of 2003, has spent more than half of the last 20 years in prison. He is considered a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International.
His entourage reported at the end of 2024 that the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) was hospitalized after having received a “brutal beating” by the staff of the Mar Verde prison (eastern Cuba), according to a quote from EFE.
In his four-page manuscript, cited by the agency, Ferrer explained the decision-making process that led him to accept his forced departure from Cuba for political reasons after years of refusing to consider that option, assumed by dozens of activists and dissidents in Cuba in recent years.
“Given the constant protests by the political police for me to leave Cuba, I ended up accepting the exit into exile,” he stressed.
The opposition leader assured that he made this decision first “for the safety” of his family, who has suffered “ruthless persecution.”
Cuban government releases opposition member José Daniel Ferrer
Ferrer was one of the prisoners for political reasons who was released at the beginning of the year within the framework of an agreement between Havana and Washington mediated by the Vatican. But this measure was revoked three months later.
In this regard, the Cuban Government reiterated this Monday that the opponent’s re-entry into prison was due to “repeated breaches of the obligations and requirements established by the court” that was following his case.
