Madrid/The uncertainty surrounding the immediate future of the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, José Daniel Ferrer, is extreme since friday The possibility of him accepting exile to be able to leave the Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba, where he has been since his release was revoked in April, came to light. This Monday, his wife, Nelva Ismarays Ortega Tamayo, was arrested for several hours after demanding explanations for denying her a conjugal visit this week.
Ana Belkis Ferrer, sister of the opponent, told this Monday that Ortega Tamayo went to prison to visit her husband, but Captain Liván Laguart Riquelme refused entry “without a clear reason.” Around 12:30, while Ferrer’s wife was standing at the entrance in protest of the decision, four agents from the Ministry of the Interior detained her, claiming that she had to accompany them to the Versailles Research and Operations Center so that someone could explain to her why she was not allowed the visit.
“After taking her there, they kept her for almost half an hour inside the patrol under the sun. Then they took her to an office where the aforementioned repressors were, Major Raúl, another with a camera filming and another who was the one who started the threats. According to them, it is the last warning for being on social networks publishing against the authorities and institutions of the regime, in addition to the current situation of my brave brother. Yes Another video or publication would appear, everything would go backwards in terms of the exit process, both for him and for the family, and she would go to prison,” says Ferrer’s sister, who adds that her sister-in-law returned home around 2 in the afternoon.
“According to them, this is the last warning for being on social networks publishing against the authorities and institutions of the regime, in addition to the current situation of my brave brother”
The leader of Unpacu made public a letter on Friday through his relatives in which he explained why he has made the decision to accept the insistent demands of State Security for him to leave Cuba. In recent months, he explained, “the cruelty of the dictatorship against me has exceeded all limits,” resulting in “beatings, torture, humiliation, threats and extreme conditions,” in addition to “theft of my food and hygiene products” and threats against his family.
However, he explained in the letter, “since the procedures to achieve this goal began, as always happens, the regime’s agents have been playing very dirty: they continue with the plan of harassment, threats, humiliation, robberies and extreme conditions.” Ferrer argued that the authorities want him to demand a dialogue between the Catholic Church and Washington, among other things, something that he refuses to execute, putting his departure in check.
In this context, the pro-Castro environment Cubainformation published this Tuesday a note titled The forehead, the table and the script: The truth behind the speech of dignity and persecution about José Daniel Ferrer in which he recalls the video that the authorities published in 2019, with the intention of discrediting him, during an arrest of the Unpacu leader, in which he was seen allegedly inflicting self-injury. The text insists that he is not “a ‘persecuted patriot’ forced to leave Cuba by the ‘Castro dictatorship,’” but rather that he directs an organization of a “subversive” nature that receives money from abroad “as part of the strategy to destabilize our country.”
Furthermore, the article highlights that Ferrer – who was imprisoned during the Black Spring of 2003 – has been in prison not as an opponent, but as a “mercenary” and adds that he practices “destabilizing activism, with subsequent arrests for repeating provocations against the Cuban institutional order.” The note categorically denies that he was a victim of torture, which helps to understand the reason for the publication.
This Monday, hours before the note was published, The US had insisted on condemning the bad treatment and “torture” suffered by the opponent. In a statement sent to Martí Newsthe State Department affirms that “the Cuban regime continues to brutally repress” Ferrer, who is “a leading voice for the freedom of the Island.”
“The United States is with him and will continue to act against the illegitimate and oppressive regime of Cuba until all political prisoners are released”
“The Cuban regime tortures José Daniel Ferrer, beats him and subjects him to unbearable conditions for demanding basic rights. But neither the beatings nor the isolation have managed to silence him,” stated the State Department, which maintains: “The United States is with him and will continue to act against the illegitimate and oppressive regime of Cuba until all political prisoners are released.”
The spokesperson also refused to make statements about whether there are steps to facilitate the departure of Ferrer and his family. “We have nothing to share at this time,” he concluded.
