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The Cuban opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer, recently exiled in the United States, reported that the regime's prisons “do not differ from the concentration camps of Nazi Germany” and that hundreds of political prisoners are victims of torture, diseases, and hunger in inhumane conditions.
The statement was published by the portal Newsweek Argentina, which reported that Ferrer received the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom, awarded by the U.S. Department of State, in recognition of his fight for democracy and human rights in Cuba.
Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), who survive in prisons where “tuberculosis and other infectious diseases kill many inmates every week.”
The opponent claimed that in those prisons, both common and political prisoners are beaten and tortured for any sign of discontent or complaint.
We are talking about centers where inmates are punished, where corruption and abuse prevail, cruelty towards political prisoners and also towards common prisoners, Ferrer stated, who described Cuban prisons as true fiefdoms of communist power.
According to the source, the activist elaborated on his complaint and asserted that the water consumed by the prisoners is not potable and that the food, besides being scarce, often arrives in a state of decomposition.
"The food arrives with a foul and very unpleasant odor; these places are truly terrible," he stated.
The dissident described his departure from Cuba as a “forced exile” and explained on the program Conclusiones of CNN that his only option to save his family was to leave the island, emphasized Newsweek Argentina.
"The harassment, the arrests, the assaults, leaving my children without food and medicine forced me to accept exile," she said.
Ferrer was released following a formal request from the United States government, after the regime revoked his parole in April and imprisoned him again, amid international outcry over his deteriorating health.
The opposition leader also recounted the abuses he suffered during his confinement, including beatings from both military personnel and common prisoners, as well as physical torture.
"I was beaten by the military on two occasions, and then, for several days, two common prisoners beat me while eleven others held me by my feet and hands," he recounted.
Ferrer also revealed that he was force-fed rotten food during a hunger strike.
"They forced a stick and a funnel into my mouth to make me swallow a soup made from decomposing ground meat," he reported.
The activist, who once spent more than three years in isolation without being able to see his family or access paper or pencil, stated that the torture left him with permanent damage to his spine.
"It is an honor to me, my family, and the victims of the Cuban communist regime," said Ferrer upon receiving the award, dedicating the recognition to political prisoners and all Cubans who suffer under the dictatorship.
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