Cuban dissident José Daniel Ferrer denounces being attacked at his home after more than two weeks of hunger strike

Cuban dissident José Daniel Ferrer, who has been on a hunger strike for more than two weeks to denounce the crackdown on the opposition, warned that a group of people threw stones on Saturday evening at his home in Santiago de Cuba., headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU).

Ferrer assured on his Twitter account that, after being held incommunicado inside the building, they suffered an “act of repudiation”, images of which the organization posted on social networks.

“They gave a stone to my wife on the back and three stones to me”, he denounced.

According to data released by Unpacu, 44 men and women are currently participating in the fast that began on March 20 – 39 indoors in various places on the island and 5 abroad – among activists and supporters, according to data released by Unpacu, protesting the crackdown. According to Ferrer’s environment, one of the activist’s sons, José Daniel Ferrer Cantillo, began suffering from a kidney attack and “severe pain” on Saturday after three days without urinating.. The condition of the other strikers is also said to have worsened.

Ferrer, one of the island’s most recognized dissent figures, demanded from the regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel “a respectful and constructive national dialogue that begins the process of transition to democracy”.

To the “hard-line leaders of the regime”, he transferred that they cannot continue to subject the population “to extreme misery and total oppression”, knowing that these pressures will not prevent “the social epidemic” . Thus, he warned that “the more they cling and do harm to the people, the more justice will be severe with them”, for which he sees more favorable “a peaceful and orderly transition”.

The hunger strike has started to gain international attention: among those echoing the protest are European Parliament Vice-President Dita Charanzová; the Secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro; the rapporteur for Cuba of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Stuardo Ralón, and the mayor of Miami, Francis Suárez.

Ferrer’s situation was highlighted by Human Rights Watch regional director José Miguel Vivanco, who raised the issue when he began the hunger strike. “Participating in public affairs without being subjected to unjust restrictions is a human right,” he stressed.

José Daniel Ferrer, 50, was a member of the “group of 75” dissidents in 2003 during the repressive wave known as the “black spring”, released between 2010 and 2011 with extra-criminal leave after a dialogue in which the Church has Catholic negotiated. and the Spanish government.

He was one of twelve members of this group who decided to stay in Cuba after his release.

Since then he has been detained countless times, the longest between October 2019 and April last year, when he was charged with injuries, kidnapping and assault for allegedly assaulting another man.

For this reason, the leader of Unpacu remained in preventive detention for six months until in April 2020, he was given a penalty of house arrest for 4.5 years after being tried behind closed doors. , in a case that has attracted international criticism, in particular the European Parliament.

Dissent and controls grow

The rapid spread of the Internet to cell phones and Wi-Fi zones over the past three years on the island, has opened up unknown access to information for Cubans and a platform for opinion, hitherto reserved for state media.

It is more and more common for critical citizens, artists or independent journalists to express their discontent on social media or to record with a phone in the street how they are being monitored outside their homes by the Cuban police. . Many times this action is worth holding for hours.

According to an article published a few days ago by the Granma newspaper, an organ of the CPC Central Committee, strengthening the repressive headquarters will be one of the goals that the only party on the island seeks to achieve at its VIII Congress which will take place. from April 16 to 19. “Convinced that, in terms of thought, this is the greatest war that is being waged against us, the Party has included in its working system the monitoring and confrontation of politico-ideological subversion as a permanent scenario of confrontation with Internet and social networks have become the enemy, ”the newspaper report said.

“The Congress will focus its gaze on how to achieve superior efficiency in all fields and in all forms, using the means available to undertake the communication battle with more creativity and intelligence,” said Granma . And he added that “the development of an effective information policy and adequate social communication will continue to play a fundamental role”, seeking to have a greater presence on all platforms.

(With information from Europa Press and AFP)

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