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The doctor Nelva Ismarays Ortega Tamayo, wife of Cuban opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer, revealed in a recent interview the trauma she experienced at the hands of the regime when she was five months pregnant.
According to journalist Javier Díaz, she was brutally beaten by State Security agents, who threw her against a bunk bed and kicked her in the abdomen, putting her life and that of her child at risk.
Ortega, who for years has supported Ferrer's opposition work at the helm of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), stated that he had never before dared to recount what happened due to the deep trauma left by the attack.
It was a moment that I completely erased from my mind, but now I felt the need to discuss it, he explained.
In the interview, after her arrival in Miami, she recounted that she was violently arrested by regime agents in Santiago de Cuba and forcefully taken away while she was five months pregnant.
During the arrest, the officers hit and pushed her without any regard for her condition. “They threw me against a bunk and kicked me in the stomach. I thought I had lost my baby,” she confessed, visibly affected.
The incident occurred while Ferrer was imprisoned in solitary confinement, accused of political crimes that international organizations have deemed fabricated for ideological reasons.
Ortega stated that physical and psychological assaults were constant against the families of opponents in an attempt to break their resistance.
Ortega y Ferrer, along with their three children, recently arrived in Miami after being forced into exile by the Cuban government. The opposition figure was released after more than four years of imprisonment under harsh conditions, as part of an agreement that culminated in his departure from the country.
In previous statements, Dr. Ortega expressed her pain at having to leave Cuba and the vulnerable people she cared for as a doctor in her home in Santiago de Cuba.
“It hurts a lot to leave behind so many people in need, mothers who have nothing to give their children to eat, people who cannot access medication or medical care,” he declared in tears during a conference at the Cuban American National Foundation.
“We always tried to help the poorest, to share the little we had. But the regime takes pleasure in seeing the people suffer. It delights in the misery and humiliation of the people,” he denounced.
The doctor recalled that before her departure into exile, numerous people came to say goodbye and express their gratitude for the support provided by her family.
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