Cuba frees jailed opposition leader

Cuban opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer was among a group of prisoners released in a landmark deal that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island.

Jose Antonio Gonzalez Guerrero, in prison for their participation in the July 2021 anti-government protests, after being released the prison at San Miguel del Padron neighbourhood in Havana. Picture: AFP

Cuban opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer was among a group of prisoners released overnight on Thursday in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island.

Mr Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Mr Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors – part of an 11th-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power to Donald Trump next week.

“Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband Mr Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the past two decades. His latest stint lasted 3½ years.

A short while later, Mr Ferrer urged Cubans on a Miami-based radio program to “not be afraid” to stand up to a government he said was “increasingly scared” and “increasingly weak”.

In return for being removed from the US terror list that includes North Korea, Iran and Syria, cash-strapped Cuba promised to release 553 people, many of whom the Biden administration said were political prisoners.

Cuban opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer has been released from a Cuban jail as part of a deal with the US. Picture: AFP

By Friday, Havana had freed about three dozen people, according to rights groups.

Most were arrested for taking part in mass July 2021 anti-government demonstrations over recurring power outages, food shortages and price hikes.

Marlon Brando Diaz, who was serving an 18-year sentence for his participation in the 2021 protests, said tearfully that he was thankful for “a new chance in life”.

“It’s a new start,” he said, as he hugged emotional family members on his release from Miguel del Padron jail on the outskirts of the capital Havana.

The deal with Washington paves the way for increased US investment in the Caribbean island, which has been under a trade embargo for over six decades.

In a sign that the thaw may be short-lived, however, Mr Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Florida senator Marco Rubio, suggested Mr Biden’s decision could be reversed.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Mr Rubio is vociferously critical of that country’s government and said Mr Trump’s incoming administration was not bound by Mr Biden’s policies.

“There is zero doubt in my mind that they (the Cuban government) meet all the qualifications for being a state sponsor of terrorism,” he said at his US Senate confirmation hearing this week.

The trickle of prisoner releases caused anguish for families still waiting for news of their loved ones.

Authorities have not released a list or a timetable of those to be freed. Analysts said Cuba could be stalling to ensure Mr Trump upholds the deal when he returns to the White House next week, with the remaining prisoners serving as a bargaining chip.

Mr Ferrer has been in and out of prison for the past 20 years.

A fisherman and father of six, he was one of 75 political prisoners sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in 2003 as part of the so-called Black Spring wave of repression unleashed by authorities.

He was released in 2011, along with 130 other political prisoners following mediation by the Catholic Church, but resisted pressure to go into exile.

Later that year, he founded the Patriotic Union of Cuba, one of the most active opposition organisations in a one-party state that bans rival political formations.

He was re-arrested on July 11, 2021, trying to join one of the biggest protests since the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959.

Authorities say about 500 people were given sentences of up to 25 years over the unrest, but rights groups and the US embassy in Havana say the figure is closer to 1000.

Declared a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International, Mr Ferrer’s imprisonment has been a point of global contention.

AFP