Cuban Prisoners Defenders Release, February 10, 2020:
United Nations finally reproves and condemns Ferrer’s forced disappearance
- EXCLUSIVE: The Committee Against Forced Disappearances of the United Nations, after having given the State a right of reply and hearing all the allegations in a transparent process, concludes in a letter sent to Cuba on January 27, 2020 and sent to Prisoners Defenders, that the relatives of José Daniel Ferrer “did not know the whereabouts of Mr. José Daniel Ferrer until November 7, 2019, thirty-seven days after his arrest.” They also urge that Cuba “has the obligation to proceed without delay to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of Mr. José Daniel Ferrer’s disappearance on the days when he has been held in detention without contact with the outside.” This certification, together with the arbitrary, defamatory and full of contradictions process that has led to the worldwide condemnation of the case, puts Cuba’s world image at serious risk this time even before the left.
- José Daniel Ferrer Jr. (Danielito) was arrested by the political police yesterday to transmit to his father the regime’s offer that “if he leaves the country he would not be convicted”, something unprecedented for prosecution for a “supposedly” common crime, which is a corroboration of the political entity of the case by the own regime. Danielito and Nelva Ismarays Ortega, the youngest son of José Daniel Ferrer, were arrested when they left yesterday morning their home, located at the top of the UNPACU headquarters. Danielito’s detention lasted 5 hours, in which the political police tried to get him to visit his father to offer him to leave the country in exchange for his freedom. The son refused to do so and hours later he was released.
- Another Forced Expatriation. It is a usual operation. In a tough letter-resolution of 4 United Nations rapporteurs, United Nations reproved Cuba for the way in which the Cuban regime threatens dissidents to get them to leave the country, with future trials, convictions and even death threats. 72 cases were confirmed by the United Nations. José Daniel himself said at that time that he did not appear because the regime would never dare to ask him to leave the country, since they knew he would never accept it, and that he would denounce it immediately. The pressure that the island’s regime is being subjected for Ferrer’s case is rising the price to be paid too high for a single dissenting voice to shut up.
- Prisoners Defenders hopes that Cuba understands that the best way out of this situation is to conduct an audit of the case, as requested by the United Nations and, in an act of judicial rectification, agree on the freedom of José Daniel Ferrer for the evident arbitrariness in the process. Such gestures would allow us to believe that there is in Cuba still a sector of the State who wants to get rid of this human rights situation on the island, created by the State Security that, if continues, will only bring more misery and isolation to the Government of Cuba.
According to the statements of Ana Belkis Ferrer, sister of José Daniel Ferrer, statements that narrate facts corroborated with third parties by Prisoners Defenders:
“On the morning of this Sunday, February 9, 2020, Raul Castro’s State Security agents arrested my 17-year-old nephew José Daniel Ferrer Cantillo, son of José Daniel Ferrer, and Nelva Ismarays Ortega Tamayo, wife of my brother José Daniel Ferrer Garcia, who was with his little baby of a few months, when leaving the headquarters of UNPACU, which has been under siege since January 24. This site is due to the fact that all 24th days of each month, at UNPACU’s headquarters, they are fasting for the freedom of all political prisoners, respect for human rights and in homage to our martyrs, all this at the request of Jose Daniel from his small, dirty and cold prison cell of Aguadores prison, in Santiago de Cuba, in which he is naked and which he himself compares with a grave.
After more than five hours after the arrest and without news of them, Danielito communicated with me through brothers of struggle and ideas. He had just been released, and since he was introduced to the patrol car the State agents began filming them on video.
Nelva, who could this time leave her baby so that he was not taken detained as in previous occasions, was taken to the police unit known as “La Motorizada” and Danielito to the “Palacete”, where they continued filming them. The political police officer, who named himself as “Frank”, told him that they needed Danielito to talk to his dad to convince him to leave the country, to which Danielito replied he would not say anything, since they all know that his father will never accept leaving the country and that his father is even willing to die for the freedom of the people of Cuba. The agent insisted and tried to convince him, claiming that José Daniel would not listen to the State Police, and that it would be the best way out for his father.State Security agents stole Danielito’s mobile phone in his detention.”
About Cuban Prisoners Defenders
Cuban Prisoners Defenders is an independent group of analysis, study and legal action, which counts on the collaboration of all dissident groups on the island and the relatives of political prisoners to gather information and promote the freedom of all political prisoners and rights Humans in Cuba. Cuban Prisoners Defenders is part of Prisoners Defenders International Network, a legally registered association based in Madrid, Spain, whose focus of action is the promotion and defense of human rights and democratic values, and whose Internet address is www.prisonersdefenders.org.
The works of Cuban Prisoners Defenders are adopted by numerous institutions and are sent, among others, to the United Nations Organization, Organization of American States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Civil Rights Defenders. Freedom House, European Parliament, United States Congress and Senate FNCA, ASIC, UNPACU, Government of Spain, Spanish Transition Foundation, International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, FANTU, Party for Democracy Pedro Luis Boitel, College of Pedagogues Independent of Cuba and the Citizen Movement Reflection and Reconciliation, among many other institutions and organizations of equal relevance.REQUEST FOR REPORTS: Entities wishing to receive the work of Cuban Prisoners Defenders (list of political prisoners and of conscience, legal studies of political prisoners, legal studies on Cuba, studies on repression and prisons in Cuba, etc) please contact Cuban Prisoners Defenders at info@prisonersdefenders.org or by whatsapp or phone at +34 647564741. Disambiguation: Prisoners Defenders generates its contents and reports in Spanish, and then translates them into other languages with the sole purpose of facilitating reading, but in case of any need for nuance or disambiguation, it will be the reports generated in Spanish that prevail and are official, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Our website is www.prisonersdefenders.org and our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/CubanDefenders. Our Twitter, in addition, is @CubanDefenders.
