Cuban opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer has regained his freedom

Cuban opponent José Daniel Ferrer, head of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), He was released this Friday evening after 10 hours of detention Yes after a judge ordered him to end his political activities, as reported by himself.

He was “violent and arbitrary detentionSaid Ferrer, head of the opposition organization that presides over Santiago de Cuba, 900 kilometers southeast of Havana.

According to him, he was questioned by a “execution judge“, What warned him that he would be jailed if he did not end his political activities. The dissident is currently serving a sentence of four and a half years in house arrest.

“My answer was: for the moment imprison me and multiply the penalty by 20, because the four-and-a-half-year-old, to me, is nonsense, so take years so that there is no fear, ”Ferrer said.

This opponent and three other members of his organization were incarcerated from March 2019 to April 2020 for common law crimes allegedly of “injury”, “deprivation of liberty” and “assault”, but their sentences were commuted to others from four to five years of house arrest.

Ferrer is one of 75 political prisoners in the so-called Black Spring of 2003, sentenced to long prison terms.

In 2011, he refused to take advantage of the facilities offered to emigrate to Spain, following the agreement of the then President Raúl Castro with the Catholic hierarchy of the island.

He was one of 12, among more than 130 prisoners, who decided to stay on the island and continue their opposition activities.

Marco Rubio’s repudiation of Ferrer’s arrest

Cuban American Senator Marco rubio Friday, condemned the arrest of the Cuban dissident and described it as “arbitrary“. The attacks on Ferrer “by the regime“By Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Former Cuban President Raúl Castro”they don’t stopThe senator lamented.

He stressed that “once again demonstrates his sinister, violent and cowardly nature by arbitrarily detaining the Leader of the Opposition“.

The senator, one of two from the state of Florida, pointed out that “the Cuban people desire and deserve a homeland and a life, no more“.

In Miami, his brother, Luis Enrique Ferrersaid this Friday to Efe What I didn’t know where they had taken to the political opponent.

In Cuba, Ovidio martin, member of the board of directors of Unpacu, explained to the same news agency that earlier this morning (Friday) members of the Cuban State Security “they surrounded and attackedThe headquarters of the organization – which is also Ferrer’s house – and they took him into custody.

In June of last year, Ferrer received in the United States the medal Truman-Reagan to freedom for his defense of human rights and his leadership in Unpacu, deemed illegal by the Cuban regime and which promotes a peaceful transition of the country to democracy.

The opponent was honored with this medal awarded by the association of victims of communism, based in Washington. Ferrer, under house arrest for his political activity, founded this organization in 2011 after eight years in prison.

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