Cuban opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer was hospitalized after a brutal beating in the Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba, where he has been incarcerated since July 11, 2021.
According to information provided by a political prisoner confined at the Boniato prison on the afternoon of November 19, the representative of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU) and president of the Council for Democratic Transition (CTDC) was urgently transferred to the prison hospital at Boniato.
Ana Belkis Ferrer García, sister of the political prisoner, reported the incident on social media and demanded a proof of life for Ferrer from the regime.
"We hold them responsible for their physical and psychological well-being," he wrote.
The Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba condemned the attack, characterizing it as an act of systematic violence within Cuban prisons.
The organization reported that "nothing in the prison regulations authorizes prison agents to impose permanent physical punishment," and reiterated that the Cuban government is responsible for Ferrer's well-being.
José Daniel Ferrer was arrested on July 11, 2021, when he attempted to join the popular protests that erupted in several cities across the island.
His arrest occurred amid a context of political repression, after being previously convicted in 2003 during the Black Spring and having served several years in prison.
The CTDC called on the international community to urgently intervene to condemn the abuse and violence faced by political prisoners in Cuba, where last week the case emerged of a 27-year-old man who died after being brutally beaten in a prison by seven officers.
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