Cuba frees jailed activist Jose Daniel Ferrer after US deal

The island began releasing the first of hundreds of prisoners on Wednesday, freeing around 20 people, according to local NGOs.

Ferrer is one of the most recognized names among Cuban dissidents and pro-democracy activists. The 54-year-old leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), the country’s opposition group, was jailed and charged with public disorder after the 2021 protests.

“I am at home, in fair health, but courageously continuing to fight for the freedom of Cuba,” Ferrer told Reuters in a telephone conversation.

Many of the prisoners released this week were arrested in connection with the 2021 protests, as citizens demanded the Cuban government do more to ease widespread food shortages and lower spiraling prices.

Biden’s move to remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism comes just days before the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s choice for secretary of state, has been critical of the decision to ease sanctions on Cuba, suggesting it could be reversed.

Speaking at his Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday, Rubio said referring to some of the sanctions on Cuba that the Biden administration rescinded on Tuesday that “the new administration is not bound by that decision”.

Earlier, Trump’s choice for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Fox News that “whatever (the Biden administration) is doing now, we can go back, and no one should be under any illusions about a change in Cuba policy”.

The Cuban government says that the designation of our island as a state sponsor of terrorism is deeply unjust and aimed at harming its economy by making it impossible for Cuba to access international banking credits.