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The Cuban opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer expressed his gratitude this Wednesday for the overwhelming support he received from MEPs during his recent European tour, noting that out of approximately fifty parliamentarians visited two weeks ago, only one supports the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (ADPC) between the European Union and Cuba.
«Gratitude to all the MEPs who stand in solidarity with the Cuban people. Of the fifty we saw two weeks ago, only one defends the very negative ADPC,» Ferrer wrote on his account on the social media platform X.
The coordinator of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), a four-time political prisoner residing in Miami since October 13, 2025, was clear in his assessment of the agreement: «The majority knows very well that only condemnations and pressures work with the criminal Castro-communist dictatorship. The current Agreement only benefits the communist regime».
Ferrer also emphasized the harm that the ADPC causes to the European Union itself, stating that the agreement "financially benefits a regime allied with Russia, which supports Putin's invasion of Ukraine," which, in his view, makes it a detrimental instrument both for the Cuban people and political prisoners, as well as for European interests.
The message comes one day after the European Parliament in Strasbourg debated political repression and the humanitarian situation in Cuba, where the EU High Representative, Kaja Kallas, acknowledged that the ADPC "has not yielded the expected results" after almost a decade in force, although she advocated for its continuation as a tool for dialogue.
Ferrer’s statement is the direct result of an intense European tour that began in early May, driven by the organization Prisoners Defenders and its president Javier Larrondo.
On May 5, he appeared before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels, where he described Cuba as being in "the worst crisis of its modern history" and called for the implementation of Magnitsky sanctions against the regime.
The MEP Hermann Tertsch announced on May 11 that his group would present a resolution to immediately suspend the EU agreements with Cuba, with a vote scheduled for the plenary in June 2026.
The pressure from Cuban civil society on European institutions is not new. In April 2026, activists Carolina Barrero and Amelia Calzadilla traveled to Brussels and met with the Vice President of the European Parliament Esteban González Pons, garnering support for the EU to initiate an internal review process of the ADPC.
In January 2026, the European Parliament had approved an amendment with 331 votes in favor and 241 against calling for a review and suspension of cooperation with Cuba, also linked to the presence of more than 1,076 Cuban fighters in Ukraine and the use of European funds in repressive structures.
The ADPC was signed in 2016 and came into effect in 2017; it contains a human rights clause that allows for its suspension in case of serious violations, a mechanism that had never been formally activated until 2026.
The final vote on the future of the agreement is scheduled for the plenary session of the European Parliament in June 2026.
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