Jose Daniel Ferrer Barred from Havana and Warned He Could Return to Prison / 14ymedio

Jose Daniel Ferrer, executive secretary of UNPACU.
Jose Daniel Ferrer, executive secretary of UNPACU.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 18 December 2015 — The leader of the National Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), Jose Daniel Ferrer, was deported to Santiago de Cuba by order of a Havana judge who warned him that he could return to prison to serve his sentence (25 years) if tried to leave his province again. The opponent has been on parole since 2011, the year he was released, after being convicted during the Black Spring of 2003.

Ferrer was arrested Thursday morning, the 17th, at the headquarters of the organization in the capital and taken to the police station on Acosta street. The detainee told 14ymedio by telephone that after remaining there until noon, man who called himself Vicente Rodríguez Hernández appeared, accompanied by a lieutenant colonel of the Interior Ministry (MININT).. “He came dressed in a judge’s robe and carrying numerous documents. When asked to identify himself as a judge, the man said he had forgotten his identity card, but in ay event he did not have to show it to me.”

The presumed judge informed the opposition leader that, according to the law, he is subject to the regulations of parole and cannot leave his province nor file for residence outside Santiago de Cuba, without court authorization. He added that if he violated these measures, he could return to prison.

Ferrer said that he told him, “Save yourself the explanation and take me to jail now, because that is an order I will not obey.” He continued, “They would not give me a copy of the documents they read from, so I refused to sign anything.”

The “court session” was filmed at all times by a man in uniform, and his captors told him that the recording would be proof that he had been duly warned.

At 3 pm, Jose Daniel Ferrer was taken in a van, escorted by two policemen, to the eastern provinces. They spent the night in Las Tunas and at approximately 11:30 am on Friday he was left in the city of Santiago de Cuba.