The opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer posted a video in which he recounts receiving WhatsApp messages from Cuba early in the morning, including one from a Santiago couple who sent him recordings of graffiti painted on the walls of the pediatric hospital in southern Santiago de Cuba, known as "the colony," with a question that captures the exhaustion of thousands of Cubans: "How much longer?"
The desperate message received by José Daniel Ferrer comes from a couple who, as he himself indicates, does not appear as open opponents to the regime nor do they belong to any opposition organization. They did not add any written message to the videos. The question in the graffiti said it all: when would Trump act against the "murderous communists."
"They sent me two videos of graffiti that were put on the walls of the South Children's Hospital known as La Colonia in Santiago de Cuba, and they are asking me how long, how long will Trump wait to take action against the murderous communists," Ferrer recounted.
The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) describes that the marriage conveys to him that hunger, misery, the lack of medicine, and power outages have become "irresistible and unbearable" throughout the island, and that both Díaz-Canel and Raúl Castro "are putting on a show."
Ferrer goes beyond the message received and presents his own position: he states that the vast majority of Cubans desire a "surgical intervention" as soon as possible, and denounces that the regime coerces and pressures the population into signing documents against that possibility.
"The regime coerces and pressures the population to sign a document against a possible surgical military intervention to save Cuba, but the vast majority of Cubans want that to happen as soon as possible," he stated.
In the video, Ferrer mentions specific cases of political prisoners who are facing extreme situations: Jonathan Muir, 16 years old, locked up in an adult maximum-security prison in Ciego de Ávila after being arrested in March for participating in protests against power outages; Lisandra Góngora, on a hunger and thirst strike; and Virgilio Mantilla.
The video will be published this Friday, the day the two-week deadline imposed by the United States on the Cuban regime to release high-profile political prisoners, including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo, following the secret meeting held on April 10 in Havana between a delegation from the State Department and Cuban officials.
The regime rejected the ultimatum. Its ambassador to the UN, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, stated on Thursday that internal matters regarding detainees are not on the negotiation table.
The State Department responded with a direct warning: "The Cuban regime must stop playing games while direct talks are underway. They have a small window to make a deal."
Ferrer compares the situation in Cuba to that of Venezuela and argues that if that country could not liberate itself without decisive U.S. support, Cuba —under a tyranny of 67 years— will not be able to do so alone either.
"We must save Cuba as soon as possible for the good of the Cuban people, for the good of the continent, for the security of the United States," concludes the opponent in the video.
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