MIAMI – After Cuban officials released him from prison, José Daniel Ferrer asked his fellow dissidents during an interview with Marti Noticias Thursday to remain fearless.
The political activist had been arrested several times over his work for the Unión Patriótica de Cuba, or UNPACU, a coalition of opposition groups.
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“Do not be afraid to confront the oppressor, for the oppressor is increasingly frightened,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer had been in and out of prison for years. He was arrested during the 2003 Black Spring. In 2011, Cuban officials granted him a conditional release after serving eight years out of his 25-year sentence.
Police officers arrested him again over his peaceful dissent in 2012 and released him after he spent 27 days in jail. He was arrested in 2019 for allegedly kidnapping a man and again during protests on July 11, 2021.
Amnesty International activists called on Cuban officials to cease “the harassment and intimidation” and described Ferrer as “a prisoner of conscience.”
Reuters reported Ferrer’s release on Wednesday was part of a “plan negotiated with the Vatican to gradually free upwards of 500 prisoners.”In January, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, called on Cuba to release 553 prisoners while mediating negotiations with the U.S. On Tuesday, the White House announced that President Joe Biden had moved to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.