Miami/Former Cuban political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer said that a United States coup against Cuba like the one dealt to the Government of Venezuela last January should “remove from power” President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Colonel Alejandro Castro Espín, Raúl Castro’s eldest son.
“They are responsible for many crimes and many deaths, and therefore, the solution is to remove them from power,” said the opponent in an interview with EFE in Miami.
Although he was in favor of “serious talks to get the transition moving” right now, Ferrer said that if the “Cuban drama continues to worsen,” he agrees with removing both of them from power even if it is “Maduro style,” in reference to the operation by Donald Trump’s government that ended with the capture of President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on January 3.
Asked about who would be the ‘Cuban Delcy Rodríguez’, the opponent stated that there is speculation on social networks that Ana María Mari Machado, vice president of the National Assembly of People’s Power, could face leadership functions as does the current president in charge of Venezuela.
He specified that she is a “figure less hated by the people. The ones they can’t stand are those faces they constantly see on television, be it Miguel Díaz-Canel, Raúl Castro, or Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz.”
The opponent stated that it is speculated that Ana María Mari Machado could take on leadership roles.
However, he emphasized that he prefers a negotiated solution. “I have always been a defender of Cubans achieving freedom and democracy with our own efforts.” But “if the regime does not give rise to another option, what is needed is action,” said Ferrer, who arrived in Miami last October as a political refugee after an agreement between the Governments of Cuba, the United States and the Vatican.
The opponent asserted that for the first time in decades, several factors are coming together that point to a possible transition, starting with the Cuban people, who – as he stated – are now protesting without fear and more openly, no longer in secret, nor only in front of trusted people and journalists.
“I would start with a Cuban people that is increasingly dissatisfied and rebellious, with less and less fear,” he insisted. He added that there is an “awakening of youth”, such as the El4tico digital project, which “has had an incredible solidarity of young people within Cuba, never seen before.”
Added to this is the blow to Venezuela, with which “the Cuban regime lost an ally”, and the current policy of the US Government, of “maximum pressure against tyranny” and with threats of tariffs on those who help it.
“The allies of the regime are distancing themselves because they know that this bad company is not convenient for them, and there are also the threats of possible tariffs for those who help, at least with fuel, the Castro-communist regime,” he stated.
The allies of the regime are distancing themselves because they know that this bad company is not convenient for them.
“For many years it has been said ‘now yes’, but never have so many factors come together for us to be able to affirm that, this year, the Castro-communist regime will not pass. But yes, now we are very close,” emphasized the founder of the Patriotic Union of Cuba.
Regarding the next step that Trump should take, he says that “continue to pressure”, enforce “tariffs on whoever sends oil to the regime so that repression keeps moving and there is no lack of fuel in the cars of the repressive forces.”
The opponent said that the regime is now maintaining itself with fuel reserves stored “in the mountains of Oriente, where they continue to extract from a very long and deep cave, with many fuel deposits.”
Regarding the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, the opponent stated that “the oil that she wants to send to the Cuban regime is not for ambulances, it is for the vehicles of senior leaders and first of all for the repressive force.”
He added that “if Sheinbaum is truly in favor of the Cuban people and is in solidarity with the Cuban people, only send aid that consists of food, medicine and basic necessities, such as hygiene products, directly to the people through the Church, through any other actor.”
