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The U.S. Embassy to the Vatican received José Daniel Ferrer this Friday, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), as part of the extensive European tour that the Cuban dissident has been undertaking since early May.
The U.S. diplomatic mission published the meeting on its official account on the social network X, describing Ferrer as "a pro-democracy leader from Cuba who has personally endured the repressive nature of the Cuban regime" and "a man of deep faith, a brave Cuban dissident who was forced into exile for demanding basic freedoms."
The meeting carries a particular symbolic weight: the Vatican was a key mediator in Ferrer's release in January 2025, when an agreement propelled by the Holy See and Washington freed 553 political prisoners in Cuba.
Ferrer, however, refused to sign the parole, deeming it illegitimate. In April of that same year, the regime revoked his release and returned him to Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba.
He finally left for exile in October 2025 bound for Miami with his family, in what his associates described as a forced exile.
The European tour, coordinated in conjunction with the organization Prisoners Defenders and its president Javier Larrondo, began on May 2nd in Madrid and covers more than 10 countries.
On May 5th, Ferrer appeared before the European Parliament in Brussels, where he denounced the Cuban crisis and called for Magnitsky sanctions against regime officials.
On Wednesday, Poland offered its experience in democratic transition to Cuba as part of the same tour, and on Thursday, the leader of Vox Santiago Abascal met with Ferrer and promised to work towards the "Cuban Liberation Agreement."
That agreement, signed on March 2 in Miami by more than 30 organizations from the exile community, is the central political document that Ferrer promotes at each stop on his tour. The visit to the U.S. diplomatic mission to the Holy See also occurs within a context of active pressure: Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to the Vatican this month to meet with Pope Leo XIV, with Cuba on the agenda.
Alongside the meeting, Ferrer published today an extensive text titled "The Vatican, the European Union, and Latin America Facing the Tragedy of the Cuban People," in which he demands that these institutions abandon diplomatic ambiguity. "The Cuban tragedy has reached a point where international silence can no longer be justified as diplomatic prudence," wrote the dissident on his Facebook profile.
Ferrer demanded that humanitarian aid reach "directly to the needy population, without going through the corrupt hands of the communist regime," and harshly criticized the so-called private dialogues of European governments with the dictatorship: "Addressing the Castro-communist regime privately about its crimes would be like giving a quiet reprimand to Al Capone for his murders, extortions, and criminal networks, without applying real pressure, without sanctions, without public condemnation, and without standing alongside the victims."
"There are times when neutrality becomes a serious sin. There are circumstances in which remaining silent in the face of grave injustices makes you an accomplice. Cuba is experiencing one of those moments," concluded Ferrer.
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