Luis Enrique Ferrer García is a

Cuban dissident The Cuban dissident movement is a political movement in Cuba whose aim is to replace the current government with a liberal democracy. According to Human Rights Watch, the Marxist-Leninist Cuban government represses nearly all forms of political ...

. He was arrested during the Black Spring in 2003 and received a 28-year sentence for his work with the

Varela project The Varela Project () is a project that was started in 1998 by Oswaldo Payá of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) and named after Felix Varela, a Cuban religious leader. Many members were imprisoned during the Black Spring in 2003. The Va ...

, a civic initiative calling for democratic reforms in Cuba. Upon leaving the courtroom, a member of the mob struck Luis Enrique Ferrer García with a

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

, and his mother and sister were violently thrown to the ground. To protest his unjust imprisonment, especially severe prison conditions and mistreatment by prison authorities, Ferrer García has engaged in numerous

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

s throughout his detention, often leaving him very ill and weak. He was the victim of numerous physical assaults by security guards and violent prisoners. According to

Human Rights First Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights) is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3), international human rights organization based in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Its work centers on four m ...

, attacks are believed to be encouraged by prison authorities to harass and intimidate him. Ferrer Garcia was freed in November 2010 and exiled with his family. Garcia is the official representative of the Cuban Patriotic Union UNPACU outside of Cuba, the same organization that Wilmar Villar Mendoza belonged to. His brother, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia is the founder and official representative of UNPACU inside the island. He spoke at the

Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy The Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy is an annual human rights summit sponsored by a coalition of 20 non-governmental organizations. Each year, on the eve of the United Nations Human Rights Council's main annual session, activists from a ...

in March 2011 on the subject of "The Right Against Arbitrary Arrest".

References

External links

Luis Enrique Ferrer García writings

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrer Garcia, Luis Enrique Living people Cuban dissidents Cuban democracy activists Year of birth missing (living people) Black Spring detainees