A prominent Cuban dissident and activist has been released from prison as part of a broader prisoner release deal between the Cuban government and the United States.
José Daniel Ferrer spent more than three years in prison following anti-government protests that swept the communist-ruled island in 2021.
Under the deal brokered by the Catholic Church, outgoing US President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism just days before the end of his term.
In exchange, Cuba announced it would release 553 people, many of whom were arrested during anti-government protests.
The island began to release the first of hundreds of prisoners Wednesday, freeing around twenty 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 Cuban Patriotic Union (Unpacu), an opposition group in the country, was jailed and charged with disturbing public order following the 2021 protests.
“I am at home, in good health, but with the courage to continue fighting for the freedom of Cuba,” Ferrer told Reuters in a telephone conversation.
Many of the prisoners released this week were arrested as part of the 2021 protests, in which citizens have demanded that the Cuban government do more to ease widespread food shortages and lower soaring prices.
Biden’s decision to remove Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism comes just days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, criticized the decision to ease sanctions on Cuba, suggesting it could be reversed.
Speaking at his Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday, Rubio said, in reference to some of the sanctions against Cuba that the Biden administration rolled back on Tuesday, that “the new administration is not bound by this decision.”
Earlier, Trump’s chosen national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Fox News that “whatever [the Biden administration] what we are doing now, we can go back, and no one should have any illusions in terms of policy change in Cuba.”
The Cuban government says the designation of the island as a state sponsor of terrorism is deeply unfair and aims to harm its economy by making it impossible for Cuba to access international bank credit.
