Interviewed by the press present at the airport, his brother Luis Enrique Ferrer stressed that there was no negotiation of any kind.
HAVANA.- Jose Daniel FerrerCuban opposition leader and former political prisoner, arrived in Miami this Monday with his family, after accepting the forced exile imposed by the Havana regime as a condition for his release. The prominent opponent was received by Cuban-American congressmen Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Giménez.
Upon his arrival in Miami, the congressmen highlighted his bravery and his role as a symbol of civic resistance in Cuba.
“The fight continues. It is the same José Daniel with the same spirit of Struggle,” declared Mario Díaz Balart to Cubanet and added that José Daniel needs to take care of his health and his family.
For his part, Carlos Giménez told the press that two members of the State Department traveled to Cuba to coordinate Ferrer’s departure and that they refused to return without him, but they did not give in to agreements or give concessions to the Cuban dictatorship. The congressman highlighted the role of the Secretary of State Marco Rubio to achieve the departure of the UNPACU leader from Cuba.
Interviewed by the press present at the airport, his brother Luis Enrique Ferrer stressed that there was no negotiation of any kind. “We will not accept a can of soda that the American government will give for the release of José Daniel. We made that clear and we spoke about it with the embassy.”
Luis Enrique maintained that the hardest decision his brother has made in his life was agreeing to go into exile. “He arrives with a broken soul.” In an interview with Cubanet, he declared that they will prioritize giving him medical attention so that he can recover from the beatings and torture he received.
“If Communism carries out atrocities in the streets, imagine what happens in prisons,” said his brother and highlighted the horror that political prisoners experience in regimes of this type.
At the beginning of this month, when Ferrer’s decision to accept exile became known, Díaz-Balart described Ferrer as a “hero” and expressed that, after years of imprisonment, beatings and torture for demanding freedom, he deserves “a welcome worthy of a hero.”
In a letter released days before from prison, Ferrer explained that he accepted exile to protect his wife and children, while denouncing the “humiliating” conditions and cruel treatment to which he was subjected during his imprisonment.
The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) noted that his arrival in the United States marks a new chapter in the fight for Cuban freedom and represents a moral victory for the Cuban democratic movement.
For its part, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially reported his departure, omitting all reference to the arbitrariness, torture and political repression that Ferrer suffered during his imprisonment, and presenting his exile as a legal procedure and in accordance with due process.
