Arbitrary detention and ill treatment.
Today marks one hundred days José Daniel Ferrer García, head of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU is the acronym in Spanish) has been locked away without due process since October 1, 2019 while the Castro regime engineered social media campaigns slander him. Jailed at the same time were Fernando González Vailant, José Pupo Chaveco and Roilán Zárraga Ferrer, also members of UNPACU.
It is important to recall that both José Daniel Ferrer García and his brother Luis Enrique were jailed in March 2003 and sentenced to 25 years and 28 years respectively in prison for their role in the Varela Project, a citizen imitative to reform the Cuban system.
These years in prison were traumatic. Not all who went in made it out alive. Others left the prison inoculated with illnesses that would claim their lives prematurely. Next month on February 23, 2020 will mark 10 years since the day that the world learned that Orlando Zapata Tamayo had died on hunger strike, after years of mistreatment, torture, and the periodic denial of water by prison authorities.
Orlando's death combined with the activism of the Ladies in White, the mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives of the 75 Cubans arbitrarily detained and condemned to long prison sentences spent years campaigning for their freedom, created a critical mass that led to the release of all of them by 2011.
Luis Enrique Ferrer García left prison and went into exile in November of 2010. Jose Daniel was finally released in 2011 and remained in Cuba.
On November 8, 2019 activists and human rights defenders gathered outside of the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC and demanded freedom for José Daniel Ferrer García, Fernando González Vailant, José Pupo Chaveco, Roilán Zárraga Ferrer and the scores of other political prisoners.
On November 13, 2019 the official Communist newspaper, Granma, published an article attacking the Cuban regime opponent, and slandering him with no right to reply.
On November 14, 2019 Amnesty International issued an “Urgent Action Update: Opposition leader at risk of torture” stating that “recent alarming reports suggest [ Jose Daniel Ferrer] may have been tortured or ill-treated while in detention. ...”
On November 22, 2019 Amnesty International formally requested access to Cuba to visit Jose Daniel Ferrer. To date, they have not been granted entry.
In December 2019, several U.S. Senators called for the release of Jose Daniel. Congressman Mario Diaz Balart introduced a resolution demanding the release of the UNPACU leader and all other political prisoners.
Today, the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, a coalition representing over 50 opposition organizations inside and outside of Cuba issued a statement denounced the 100 day kidnapping and torture of José Daniel Ferrer García, and the Assembly also highlighted the plight of Fernando González Vailant, José Pupo Chaveco y Roilán Zárraga Ferrer. All are being held in “Aguadores” prison in Santiago de Cuba.
CubaDecide launched an initiative "100 Voices around the world demand the immediate release of Jose Daniel Ferrer who is completing 100 days of unjust imprisonment in Cuba." They have called for a massive effort on social networks that today became a call to action for national parliaments of the world's democracies to demand that the Castro regime free José Daniel Ferrer.
The campaign over social media is using the hashtags #FreeFerrer, #JailedForWhat? and #PoliticalPrisoners and their Spanish translations.
Today marks one hundred days José Daniel Ferrer García, head of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU is the acronym in Spanish) has been locked away without due process since October 1, 2019 while the Castro regime engineered social media campaigns slander him. Jailed at the same time were Fernando González Vailant, José Pupo Chaveco and Roilán Zárraga Ferrer, also members of UNPACU.
It is important to recall that both José Daniel Ferrer García and his brother Luis Enrique were jailed in March 2003 and sentenced to 25 years and 28 years respectively in prison for their role in the Varela Project, a citizen imitative to reform the Cuban system.
These years in prison were traumatic. Not all who went in made it out alive. Others left the prison inoculated with illnesses that would claim their lives prematurely. Next month on February 23, 2020 will mark 10 years since the day that the world learned that Orlando Zapata Tamayo had died on hunger strike, after years of mistreatment, torture, and the periodic denial of water by prison authorities.
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| Prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo |
Orlando's death combined with the activism of the Ladies in White, the mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives of the 75 Cubans arbitrarily detained and condemned to long prison sentences spent years campaigning for their freedom, created a critical mass that led to the release of all of them by 2011.
Luis Enrique Ferrer García left prison and went into exile in November of 2010. Jose Daniel was finally released in 2011 and remained in Cuba.
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| Imprisoned during Cuba's Black Spring in 2003 |
On November 13, 2019 the official Communist newspaper, Granma, published an article attacking the Cuban regime opponent, and slandering him with no right to reply.
On November 14, 2019 Amnesty International issued an “Urgent Action Update: Opposition leader at risk of torture” stating that “recent alarming reports suggest [ Jose Daniel Ferrer] may have been tortured or ill-treated while in detention. ...”
On November 22, 2019 Amnesty International formally requested access to Cuba to visit Jose Daniel Ferrer. To date, they have not been granted entry.
In December 2019, several U.S. Senators called for the release of Jose Daniel. Congressman Mario Diaz Balart introduced a resolution demanding the release of the UNPACU leader and all other political prisoners.
Today, the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, a coalition representing over 50 opposition organizations inside and outside of Cuba issued a statement denounced the 100 day kidnapping and torture of José Daniel Ferrer García, and the Assembly also highlighted the plight of Fernando González Vailant, José Pupo Chaveco y Roilán Zárraga Ferrer. All are being held in “Aguadores” prison in Santiago de Cuba.
CubaDecide launched an initiative "100 Voices around the world demand the immediate release of Jose Daniel Ferrer who is completing 100 days of unjust imprisonment in Cuba." They have called for a massive effort on social networks that today became a call to action for national parliaments of the world's democracies to demand that the Castro regime free José Daniel Ferrer.
The campaign over social media is using the hashtags #FreeFerrer, #JailedForWhat? and #PoliticalPrisoners and their Spanish translations.
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