Cuban Regime Frees UNPACU Political Prisoner Fernando González Vaillant

The activist from the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), Fernando González Vaillant, has been released after serving over two years in prison and losing more than 50 pounds (24 kilograms) due to hunger, illness, and the harsh conditions of the detention center.

This was reported by Cuban activist Ana Belkis Ferrer García, sister of political prisoner and UNPACU leader José Daniel Ferrer, who described the "inhumane conditions" the dissident endured during his unjust imprisonment.

Details of the Release

"On Saturday, July 20, 2024, political prisoner Fernando González Vaillant, UNPACU activist and promoter of Cuba Decide, was released in Santiago de Cuba after serving 2 years, 7 months, and 15 days of unjust, arbitrary, and cruel imprisonment in Mar Verde prison," the activist announced on her social media.

González Vaillant "was confined in a unit with common prisoners under inhumane and degrading conditions, often denied visits as they prevented Carlos Oliva (a friend and fellow activist) from delivering food packages, forcing him to endure more hunger than usual."

Conditions and Health Deterioration

Due to these cruel and degrading treatments, classified by international organizations as forms of torture, the dissident suffered from malnutrition and managed to stay alive thanks to the solidarity of friends and family.

"He was frequently ill, with infected bedbug bites and without medical assistance. Castro's henchmen took him weighing 180 pounds, and today he weighs 127 pounds after just having lunch," detailed the sister of UNPACU leader José Daniel Ferrer, who has been in the same Mar Verde prison since his arbitrary detention on July 11, 2021, the day of historic protests that shook towns and cities across Cuba.

González Vaillant had been under house arrest since March 2020 when he was detained in early April 2022. Following his "unjust, arbitrary, and violent arrest," members of the organization demanded proof of life for González Vaillant and his immediate release.

In mid-January 2021, José Daniel Ferrer shared a video of the moment González Vaillant was detained while bringing salt for the food being prepared at the UNPACU headquarters for elderly people in extreme poverty and the sick.

Days earlier, Ferrer had been violently arrested while waiting on the corner of his home for activists González Vaillant and Roilán Zárraga Ferrer, who had gone to buy food for the lunch that UNPACU provided to those in need.

Repression and Human Rights Violations

Members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, and particularly its leader, have been victims of the cruel and perverse repression by the State Security of the Cuban totalitarian regime. Their denunciations, calls for freedom and human rights, and solidarity actions towards vulnerable groups in their community have triggered fierce persecution by the regime's oppressors.

In late March 2022, the organization Prisoners Defenders denounced to the UN the forms of torture to which more than 100 political prisoners in Cuba had been subjected.

After conducting interviews, open and closed questionnaires, and applying other research methodologies on a sample of 101 political prisoners and their families, the organization identified "15 patterns of torture in Cuba."

The "denial of medical attention among political prisoners," "forced labor and tasks not appropriate to their status as detainees or convicted criminals," "highly uncomfortable, harmful, degrading, and prolonged postural patterns," "intentional deprivation of liquids and/or food," "intentional sleep deprivation," "denial of communication with family, defense, and relatives," or "threats to them, their integrity, their security, and that of their loved ones" were among the degrading and humiliating practices employed by the Cuban regime against its political prisoners.