José Daniel Ferrer
José Daniel Ferrer | |
|---|---|
Ferrer in 2018 | |
| Born | José Daniel Ferrer García July 29, 1970 |
| Occupation | Human Rights Activist |
| Known for | Prisoner of conscience of the Black Spring (Cuba) and since 2021, Cuban opposition leader since Oswaldo Payá's death in 2012 |
| Title | Executive Secretary of the Unión Patriótica de Cuba (UNPACU) |
| Opponents | |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Luis Enrique Ferrer García (brother) |
| Awards | XIII Premio Internacional de Derechos Humanos de la Fundación Hispano-Cubana, con sede en Madrid. NED Democracy Award (2009) |
| Website | http://www.unpacu.org |
José Daniel Ferrer García (born July 29, 1970) is a Cuban opposition leader, human rights activist, whom the international and Spanish media claim to be "the visible head of the dissident movement in the interior of the island since the death of Oswaldo Payá, in July 2012." Since 2025, he has been living in exile in Miami.
As a member of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) in 2003, Ferrer was the oriental leader for collecting signatures among the Varela Project, in which 25,000 signatories petitioned the Cuban government to guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of assembly as well as institute a multi-party democracy. José Daniel was imprisoned in 2003 for his participation as a leader of the Varela Project, and was sentenced to 25 years. In prison from 2003 to 2011, he was declared a prisoner of conscience for the Black Spring of Cuba by Amnesty International.
Ferrer is the founder of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), which is an umbrella group that has hosted since 2011 many Cuban dissident organizations, a union that was extended with the merger of the Guillermo Fariñas organization in 2013, which was absorbed by UNPACU.
Due to his activism, Ferrer and his family are frequently arrested, threatened, and harassed by Cuban authorities. He was arrested over 100 times throughout his decades-long activism.