To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
How the Castro regime responds to dissent in Cuba and the Jose Daniel Ferrer Case
On January 17th, The New York Times published a Reuters report that Jose Daniel Ferrer after being held over 100 days, attacked in the official media, and tortured by regime officials was informed on January 13th that he would be charged with assault and faced a nine year prison sentence.
Jose Daniel Ferrer was arrested on October 1, 2019 along with fellow dissidents Fernando González Vailant, José Pupo Chaveco and Roilán Zárraga. Diario de Cuba is reporting that José Pupo Chaveco faces eight years, and Fernando González Vailant and Roilán Zárraga face seven years. They are all members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU). Reports have emerged that Pupo Chaveco is prohibited from receiving visitors at the prison.
The Castro regime has a history of slandering and libeling regime opponents. The 2012 book Ready, Aim, Fire! Character Assassination in Cuba by Rafael Rojas analyses how the dictatorship systematically destroys reputations with a sustained mix of falsehoods, and exaggerations. Carlos Alberto Montaner in a 2011 presentation on the topic described how it is an intrinsic part of totalitarian regimes and its language of exclusion.
Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the presumption of innocence as a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial. However in a regime where the prosecution, judge and defense attorney must respond to the demands of the dictator how can the legal burden of proof be met, and triers of fact recognized as legitimate?
The Reuters report gets one key fact wrong. The Cuban government has imprisoned non-violent dissidents in recent months to prison. Amnesty International named six new Cuban prisoners of conscience in August and September of 2019. Three were jailed in the last months of the Obama Administration.
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