The opposition member José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), has been the victim of a beating in the Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba, according to a note from the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba. The activist protested the violation of his correspondence and the guards responded to his claim with violence.
Ana Belkis Ferrer García, sister of the opponent, detailed in a transmission through the social network Facebook what happened on December 9, during the family visit that the activist received in the prison. The meeting was attended by his wife, Nelva Ismaray Ortega, and two of the dissident’s children, who witnessed the aggressive response of the guards.
“His little daughter, Victoria Fátima Ferrer, who ran to the aid of her father, was also violated, as well as his wife Nelva. The psychological consequences of this unleashed violence will have a lasting and probably devastating impact on these young children,” adds the Council. in his statement.
The violence against Ferrer occurred after his wife told him that on November 30, after attending the conjugal visit, she was detained and the guards confiscated the correspondence that the opponent had given her. They read the letters and “only returned some but kept the others,” according to the opponent’s sister.
Upon learning of this, Ferrer claimed the right to respect his correspondence in front of the two guards who had been listening to what he was talking about with his family the whole time. When the Unpacu leader complained, they began to beat him. “Some held him and others hit him strongly. Fatima, José Daniel’s daughter, tried to mediate so that they did not hit her father and she was pushed.”
The activist was immobilized. “They covered his mouth because he began to shout ‘Down with Raúl Castro! Down with Díaz-Canel! And down with the dictatorship!’ They threw him to the ground,” denounces his sister
The activist was immobilized. “They covered his mouth because he began to shout ‘Down with Raúl Castro! Down with Díaz-Canel! And down with the dictatorship!’ They threw him on the floor, “denounces his sister. Before he was taken out of the visiting room, the opponent managed to tell his wife that he was declaring a hunger strike for violating his correspondence and for not complying with his hours for telephone calls.
For Ana Belkis Ferrer García, the reason for the call restrictions suffered by her brother seek to prevent “him from making the complaints he makes in those few minutes.” The woman explains that the opponent has spent 16 months in a punishment cell “in cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions.” “Being on a hunger strike, they take away all his belongings,” she laments.
“José Daniel Ferrer must be released immediately and unconditionally. In the same way as all political prisoners. Everyone is innocent. The Amnesty, which has been supported by the citizenry, is an appropriate path supported by the international defense community of human rights,” the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba claims in its text and demands that “the perpetrators, whether in uniform or not, be punished for this atrocious and barbaric display of violence.”
Ferrer is part of the almost 1,000 political prisoners that the regime has held since the mass protests of July 11, 2021 or after the demonstrations in recent months.
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