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The United States government denied this Friday that the release and subsequent exile of Cuban opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer was part of a negotiation with the regime in Havana, contradicting the version spread by Cuban state television.
In a prime-time broadcast, the official press of the island claimed that Ferrer's release —regarded as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International— was part of a supposed "exchange" between Washington and Havana that allegedly included the return of a “wanted criminal” sought by Cuban authorities.
However, a spokesperson from the Department of State categorically denied that version in statements to Martí Noticias.
"As José Daniel Ferrer himself declared, the regime forced him into exile. There was no negotiation or compensation. The Trump administration repeatedly demanded the release of Ferrer and all political prisoners detained by the dictatorship. Once Ferrer made the difficult decision to leave Cuba, the United States government facilitated his entry into our country," the official stated.
The Cuban regime, in a television report conducted by journalist Jorge Legañoa Alonso —recently appointed director of the official agency Prensa Latina— stated that Ferrer's departure was the result of the "systematic exchanges and collaboration" between both governments.
"As part of these exchanges, the United States has handed over to Cuba some criminals sought by our authorities for having outstanding legal issues. Recently, one of these fugitives arrived in Havana. I will withhold the name, but he was serving a 20-year prison sentence when he left for the United States," declared Legañoa during the broadcast.
The program's objective, according to analysts, was to portray the release of the opposition leader as the result of a bilateral agreement rather than as a consequence of international pressure on the regime due to its human rights violations.
Sources from the Department of State and three U.S. officials consulted by Martí Noticias categorically denied the existence of a fugitive exchange agreement between the two countries. “Totally false,” they stated.
"If the illegitimate regime has a problem, it knows how to submit a formal request," a spokesperson added, referring to the diplomatic mechanisms in place between both governments for requests for extradition or repatriation, processes that have been practically frozen since 2018.
According to sources cited in Washington, the individual whom Cuban state television referred to by name is Giamny Santos Chávez, a Cuban immigrant with a criminal record in the United States, also wanted by authorities on the island for human trafficking.
Santos Chávez arrived in U.S. territory by sea in 2007 under the policy of "wet foot, dry foot", which at that time allowed Cubans to regularize their immigration status. In 2009, he received a final deportation order, but the Cuban regime refused to accept him.
For more than a decade, his case remained stalled, just like that of over 40,000 Cubans with deportation orders that Havana has refused to accept despite the bilateral migration agreements signed since the 1990s.
José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU) and one of the country's most emblematic opponents, arrived in Miami this week with his family after being forced into exile by the Cuban authorities.
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