The opponent was beaten in the Mar Verde prison, where his wife and son were able to see him for three minutes on Saturday.
14ymedio, Madrid, 12 May 2025 — José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, whose parole was revoked by the Cuban regime on April 29, has been charged with propaganda against the constitutional order and contempt of Díaz-Canel. This was announced on Monday by the opposition leader’s family, who were able to see him on Saturday at Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba for the first time since his reincarceration.
“They’ve already ordered him to be held in pretrial detention,” Ferrer’s wife, Nelva Ortega, told Martí Noticias, describing her visit to the prison, where the activist is being held “in the same detachment, with common-law prisoners.” The woman asserts that he was beaten, first during his detention, “when they took him out of the house on the 29th, brutally tightening his handcuffs,” and then at Mar Verde, “by a guard, on orders from the prison chief, Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Pineda Guerra.”
Ortega went to the prison with their son, Daniel José, and the first cousin of the UNPACU leader, Daniel Ferrer. Ferrer was arrested and transferred to the Second Police Unit in Santiago de Cuba, known as “El Palacete.”
“He’s had diarrhea for over a week, and he’s been eating thanks to his fellow inmates.”
After waiting for more than an hour, the doctor explained, “they took us to the same office as always, where they conducted a thorough search.” They were only allowed to bring in, Ortega continued, “half of what we had brought.” They were told they could personally deliver the bag to Ferrer in just a minute, in the cellblock hallway.
“In the end, under pressure, we managed to stay for three minutes,” said the dissident’s wife, who detailed the current situation: “He’s currently wearing shorts because he can’t walk around in his underwear, but the hostility and threats have continued. He’s had diarrhea for over a week, and on the seventh day, they came to give him [the antibiotic] metronidazole. He’s been eating thanks to his fellow inmates.”
In a post published on the Facebook wall of one of Ferrer’s accounts, his family also mentions that the UNPACU leader “expressed his concern for the vulnerable people who attended the headquarters daily,” in addition to sending his thanks “to all his supportive friends” and congratulating all mothers on their day (yesterday, Sunday).
Ferrer was forcibly removed from his home in a State Security “assault” on the organization’s headquarters in the Altamira neighborhood of Santiago de Cuba, after three months of constant harassment . According to his family’s complaint at the time, the police officers “completely ransacked” the house and took the opposition leader, along with his wife, Nelva Ortega, and his young son, Daniel José (who were released hours later).
That same April 29, Félix Navarro was also arrested during a visit he was making with his wife, the Lady in White Sonia Álvarez, to the prison where his daughter Sayli is being held in Matanzas.
Both opponents were part of the group of prisoners released last January under an agreement between the regime and the Vatican, and returned to prison eight days after the death of the previous pope, Francis. Several organizations, such as Prisoners Defenders, the Complaints Center of the Foundation for Pan-American Democracy, the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba, and the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, issued an alert about their cases and demanded their “immediate release.”
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