Miami/Madrid/With “mixed feelings”, joy for having been able to reach the United States with his family and pain for the political prisoners who remain in Cuba, opposition member José Daniel Ferrer appeared before the press a few hours after having landed at Miami airportthis Monday. “The prisons of Cuba are hell, Dante in his divine comedy It does not describe a hell like Cuban prisons,” said Ferrer at the Cuban American National Foundation (Fnca), after mentioning political prisoners such as Félix Navarro, Sayli Navarro or Lizandra Góngora, who continue serving sentences on the Island.
“I never thought about leaving Cuba. Of course, I also didn’t think that the dictatorship would last until 2025,” said the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu). Accompanied by his brother, Luis Enrique, his wife, Nelva Ortega, and three of the children who also made the trip, Daniel José, Fátima Victoria and Ana Laura, as well as her mother, Yusmila Reyna, Ferrer appeared with a Cuban flag draped over his shoulders and promised to return “as soon as possible” to “put an end to the dictatorship.”
“My intention upon arriving here is to continue giving my modest contribution in the search for greater unity and effectiveness” in the fight against the regime, he explained, which he asserted that “we must corral inside and outside of Cuba.” He made explicit his desire to return several times during the appearance, alluding to the “heroes of the country,” such as José Martí and Antonio Maceo, who “left but returned.”
“My intention upon arriving here is to continue giving my modest contribution in the search for greater unity and effectiveness”
The opponent also took advantage of the event to congratulate María Corina Machado for having received the Nobel Peace Prize, something that, he said, “has the communists of Venezuela and Cuba suffering.” If there is a dictatorship in Caracas it is because in Havana there is a dictatorship that gives it its support, he recalled.
Asked about the details of his release, Ferrer said that it was not until yesterday Sunday that a “very affectionate, very smiling” prison officer arrived at his cell to tell him that “everything is ready for the release.” As he had denounced in the letter in which he made public his consent to exilethe regime had delayed the process because it intended for the opponent to serve as an intermediary with the US Administration and the Vatican to achieve “things that they wanted.”
Since that letter came to light, the authorities kept the entire family in uncertainty. From what both José Daniel Ferrer and Nelva Ortega said, that uncertainty remained until the moment they met, already on the plane that brought them from Santiago de Cuba. On the one hand, he doubted whether they would get him out but leave his family on the island, and she, on the other hand, said that they would get out and he would remain in jail.
Before the media, Ferrer thanked the US ambassador to Cuba, Mike Hammer – who called him before leaving the Island –, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; to President Donald Trump and the entire US Administration for having helped his release. “We need the greatest possible support so that before the end of this Administration we put an end to the dictatorship,” he said.
“José Daniel Ferrer is a free man and saving himself has been his commitment to be able to continue fighting against that tyranny,” said Rosa María Payá
As Luis Enrique Ferrer had announced in the morning, two State Department officials arrived in Santiago de Cuba a week ago and warned the regime that they would not return to the United States if it were not with Ferrer and his family.
“We are going to knock them down, I don’t hold a grudge against them, but we have to knock them down,” said the opponent, who predicted: “These are the last times of tyranny.” As for the message he sends to the Cuban people, it is: “The fight continues, with redoubled efforts, inside and outside Cuba.”
Asked by the media, Nelva Ortega was moved when remembering the family, friends and “social cases”, these unprotected ones, who remain within Cuba. “It hurts a lot to see that, but as my husband says, we will return,” she declared. Likewise, he said that it was the State Security itself that escorted them, curtly, to the airport, and that they even threatened to not let them leave if they asked for transportation on their own. “It is an extremely difficult situation, because one can think about leaving, but not in this way,” he said.
Is the peaceful route inaugurated by Oswaldo Payá cancelled? a journalist asked Ferrer. “The peaceful route is not the one that has failed, it is we Cubans who have not known how to exploit it in all aspects,” Ferrer replied. For him, “it is still the most valid action,” but without forgetting, quoting Saint Augustine, that “when the enemy tries to massacre you, you have the right to self-defense.”
Rosa María Payá, leader of Cuba Decide and member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, also present at the event, assured that Ferrer’s exile “will be a short exile.” Likewise, he warned: “The regime lies, it lied before and will continue to lie. José Daniel Ferrer is a free man and saving himself has been his commitment to be able to continue fighting against that tyranny.” And he added: “He is a hero of all Cubans.”
