It has been three months since Cuba’s communist regime has allowed the family of opposition leader and prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer to visit him or speak to him. This is socialism in action.
Relatives of political prisoner Jose Daniel Ferrer demand proof of life
The regime on the island has prohibited phone calls to Cuban political prisoner and leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), José Daniel Ferrer, who is has been imprisoned at the Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba for the past three months.
“This Tuesday, June 6, 2023, makes three months since my brave, steadfast, and selfless brother, José Daniel Ferrer García, has been denied the right to a few minutes of a phone call,” his sister Ana Belkis Ferrer said on social media.
After specifying that the last call was on March 6, 2023, the dissident said, “The cowardly and criminal mafia in power not only gain pleasure by keeping him deprived of his freedom and confined in a punishment cell fully prepared to physically and psychologically torture him, but they also have to deprive him of the right to speak with his family and see them.”
It has been almost the same amount of time since Ferrer was also denied conjugal visits, with the last one taking place on March 14.
Ana Belkis recalled that since José Daniel’s imprisonment, this is the third occasion in which he has been subjected to a forced disappearance.
“We demand Raúl Castro and Díaz-Canel provide proof of life for #SOSFerrer, and we hold them responsible once again for whatever may happen to him,” she declared, in light of the activist’s lack of communication.
On May 11, a family visit was scheduled, but like the previous ones, Castro authorities once again prevented it from happening.
The night before the visit, Nelva Ismaray Ortega Tamayo, his wife, received a call from the prison facility informing her that the marital visit would take place the next day. However, upon arriving at the prison facility, she was told that it would not take place.
José Daniel Ferrer, also a promoter of Cuba Decide and president of the Party of the People, was arrested on July 11, 2021 (11J) when he was about to join the popular demonstrations. He was taken to a cell in the Versalles torture center, and in early August, he was transferred to Mar Verde prison, where he has been held since then without a trial date.