A leading Cuban rebel and activist has been released from prison as part of a prisoner release agreement between the Cuban government and the United States.
Jose Daniel Ferrer spent more than three years in prison following the anti-government protests that swept the communist-ruled island in 2021.
Under an agreement brokered by the Catholic Church, outgoing US President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the US list of sponsors of terrorism a few days before the end of his term.
Cuba said it will release 553 people, most of whom were imprisoned during anti-government protests.
The island he began freeing the first of hundreds of prisoners on Wednesday, about 20 people were released, according to local NGOs.
Ferrer is one of the most popular names among Cuban dissidents and democracy activists. The 54-year-old leader of Cuba’s Patriotic Union (Unpacu), the country’s main opposition group, has been arrested and charged with public incitement following the 2021 protests.
“I am at home, I am in good health, but I have the courage to continue fighting for the freedom of Cuba,” Ferrer told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Many of the prisoners released this week were arrested in connection with the 2021 protests, in which citizens demanded that the Cuban government do more to alleviate widespread food shortages and falling prices.
Biden’s move to remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism came just days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, criticized the decision to reduce sanctions on Cuba, saying it could be reversed.
Speaking at his Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday, Rubio said that while talking about other sanctions on Cuba that the Biden administration withdrew on Tuesday, “the new administration is not bound by that decision”.
Earlier, Trump’s choice for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Fox News that “whatever [the Biden administration] what we are doing now, we can reverse, and no one should be under any illusion about a change in Cuban policy”.
The Cuban government says that the designation of the island as a state sponsor of terrorism is unjust and is intended to harm its economy by making Cuba unable to receive international bank loans.
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