“They have just released José Daniel Ferrer after threatening him with prison and even death if he continued with his opposition activities,” the activist’s brother told Citizen Free Press. «They continue under siege at the Unpacu headquarters and without communication. They even cut off the electricity today, “he added.
José Daniel Ferrer is the general coordinator of the Cuban Patriotic Union movement and had been released from prison in April 2020 to serve the remaining four years of his sentence in home detention.
The US State Department had condemned the arrest earlier this Friday.
Since the arrest was made known, Citizen Free Press has tried to confirm the fact with the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, but has not yet received a response.
Ferrer was one of 75 dissidents arrested in 2003 during a government offensive against opposition figures known as the Black Spring. In 2011 he was released, after which he founded Unpacu. He was arrested again in 2018 when he went on a hunger strike after the government prevented him from traveling abroad. This Friday’s arrest would then be his third time.