Cuban dissident José Daniel Ferrer and his wife begin hunger strike

Hunger strikers José Daniel Ferrer & Ismaray Ortega Tamayo

From our very busy Bureau of Socialist Tolerance and Social Justice

As socialism creeps its way into the U.S., some who live in socialist states risk their lives daily to free themselves from its chains. Once again, for the bazillionth time, Castrogonia shows the world what it is really like to live in a socialist state. And once again, we see brave men and women struggling against it valiantly and fruitlessly.

Why are their efforts fruitless? Because socialist governments have mastered the art of repression and because the rest of the world couldn’t care less about the noble savages who live in a tropical island tourist destination.

Email announcement from the Asamblea de la Resistencia Cubana

The Assembly of the Cuban Resistance supports José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and his wife Ismaray Ortega Tamayo, who have declared a hunger strike, as a protest to the continuous repression they have been receiving from the communist regime for the past six months.

In his statement, José Daniel Ferrer denounced that more than six months, the political police have besieged his home, UNPACU headquarters. This police cordon prevents activists from approaching, they are detained if they arrive, they are beaten and threatened. In addition, they steal the food that the organization provides with great effort and that feeds more than a hundred homeless, an amount that continues to increase as hunger and misery in Cuba grow, explained José Daniel.

He also denounced that he was detained for eight hours for going out to defend the activists who came with food. The regime proposed to him that if he abandoned political and human rights activism, such as doing graffiti, putting up posters, distributing leaflets, holding marches and protests, they would allow his daughter Marta Beatriz to enter and leave Cuba and allow him to continue the work social service of feeding the indigent, a proposal obviously not accepted by José Daniel Ferrer. There was also the arrest of two UNPACU activists who came to bring food and also held a protest to rescue an activist and her daughter who the political police did not allow to enter the UNPACU headquarters.

“Brothers, we must overcome in the midst of this dramatic, critical and shameful situation in which the nation lives because of Castro-communism. You have to overcome and risk everything because you have to fight the final battle. You, we, all together, can encourage and motivate the people to fight for their rights, to join our struggle and to all win our freedom together,” concluded José Daniel Ferrer.