Dozens of NGOs demand the immediate release of political prisoners in Cuba

The call was initiated by the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU) and supported by entities such as Freedom House, Prisoners Defenders, People in Need, Civil Rights Defenders, as well as by Latin American solidarity organizations and the Cuban exile community.

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By CiberCuba Editorial Team

Monday, May 5, 2025 - 1:48 PM

Dozens of national and international organizations have raised their voices to demand the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners in Cuba, particularly of the opposition members José Daniel Ferrer and Félix Navarro, who were recently arrested and returned to prison for alleged violations of parole, in a context marked by the intensification of state repression.

The call was initiated by the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and supported by entities such as Freedom House, Prisoners Defenders, People in Need, Civil Rights Defenders, as well as by solidarity organizations from Latin America and the Cuban exile community.

Arbitrary arrests and systematic repression

In the statement, the groups state that José Daniel Ferrer, the general coordinator of UNPACU and a key figure in the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC), was violently arrested at his headquarters in Santiago de Cuba, along with his wife, his five-year-old son, and several activists.

The operation concluded months of harassment against their humanitarian work, which included daily assistance to over a thousand vulnerable individuals in a social dining hall.

Almost simultaneously, in Matanzas, Félix Navarro, vice president of the CTDC and leader of the Party for Democracy Pedro Luis Boitel, was detained along with his wife, while he was preparing to receive a visit from his daughter, the also political prisoner Saylí Navarro Álvarez.

Both arrests were officially justified due to alleged violations of release conditions, although the complainants claim that these are arbitrary incarcerations, lacking procedural guarantees, and with evident political motivations.

Repression continues despite agreements with the Vatican

Both Ferrer and Navarro had been released last January following an agreement between the Cuban regime and the Vatican, in an operation that also benefited another 230 political prisoners under a home confinement regime.

However, his return to prison, just hours after the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, shows that these releases did not represent a gesture of openness, but rather a repressive pause, as evidenced by the wave of short-term arbitrary detentions that continues to affect dissenters.

The signing organizations recalled that the cases of Ferrer and Navarro, as well as those of more than 1,150 current political prisoners, fall within a framework of systematic repression, documented by UN bodies and international NGOs, which have reported violations of due process, mistreatment, and imprisonments on grounds of conscience.

They demand international pressure

The statement urgently calls on democratic governments —including the United States, the European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom— and multilateral human rights organizations to openly condemn these violations and exert coordinated political and diplomatic pressure to end the repression.

"The silence only perpetuates the regime's impunity," affirm the signatories, who demand not only the release of Ferrer and Navarro but also the release of all prisoners of conscience held arbitrarily in Cuba.

The text was signed by:

Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC)

Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), promoter organization of CubaDecide.

Prisoners Defenders

Union of Nicaraguan Political Prisoners (UPPN)

Red Femenina de Cuba

Roots of Hope Association in Spain

Consortium of Justice

Defend Venezuela

Independent Trade Union Association of Cuba (ASIC)

Democratic Spaces

DemoAmlat (Electoral Transparency Initiative)