Dr. Darsi Ferrer, right, and his family.
UPDATED, Oct. 18, 2009: Dr. Ferrer has again been named Political Prisoner of the Week, after he started hunger strike on Oct. 13, 2009.
UPDATED, July 31, 2009: Dr. Ferrer will be the Political Prisoner of the Week for a second week running. News that he faces up to 8 years in prison on trumped-up charges of "assault" and "receiving stolen property" makes it more imperative that the world step up on his behalf.
UPDATED, July 27, 2009: Dr. Ferrer apparently faces charges of "assault" and "receiving stolen goods."
The surest indicator of the vile, tyrannical nature of the Castro "revolution" — which turns 56 on July 26 — is that there are Cubans, like Dr. Darsi Ferrer Ramírez, who are harassed, threatened and imprisoned because they reject the revolution and everything it stands for, and instead choose to struggle for democracy, freedom and human rights. In the 50-plus-year "battle of ideas," the dictatorship has long been unarmed of anything real, so it resorts to brutal oppression and repression and in doing so reveals its true character.
Ferrer, a medical doctor, human rights activist and journalist, is one of the giants of the struggle for liberty in Cuba, as indicated by if nothing else, the numerous times the Castro dictatorship has tried, and failed, to silence him into submission.
Last week, the dictatorship tried again, arresting Ferrer on an apparent charge of illegally buying construction materials so that he could fix his house, which had been damaged earlier in the month during a police raid. No one knows for sure — the cops haven't told Ferrer, who is being held at a maximum security prison outside Havana, why he was arrested.
In response, Ferrer has started a hunger strike.
One thing is for certain: No one believes Ferrer was arrested because police think he is a black marketeer.
“The completely absurd reasons given for his Ferrer’s arrest will obviously not fool anyone," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. "It is a new ploy to silence a dissident voice and a particularly important one."
Amnesty International has also raised questions about Ferrer's arrest.
Under Raúl Castro, the dictatorship has been a little more subtle with its repression. It has not sent dissidents to prison for long prison terms. Instead, the secret police has detained numerous dissidents long enough to deliver to them the message: Drop your counter-revolutionary ways or risk being sent to the gulag. The detainee is then released.
Maybe that's what will happen to Dr. Ferrer, who in the past has led numerous anti-government protests, and he will be released once the 26th of July anniversary has passed. We can hope and pray.
Or maybe the dictatorship has had enough, and is ready to make an example of him.
The best English-language story about Dr. Ferrer was published in 2006 in Wall Street Journal. You can read it here.
Read my 2006 interview with Dr. Ferrer, here.
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