José Daniel Ferrer
National Coordinator of UNPACU (Patriotic Union of Cuba)
José Daniel Ferrer is one of Cuba's best-known opposition leaders — head of UNPACU and, since October 2025, in exile in Miami after years of imprisonment.
Quick facts
- Role: National Coordinator of UNPACU (Patriotic Union of Cuba)
- Spanish title: Coordinador Nacional de la Unión Patriótica de Cuba (UNPACU)
- Born: 1970-07-29 — Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
- Nationality: Cuban (in exile, United States)
- Affiliations: Unión Patriótica de Cuba (UNPACU) — National Coordinator
- Sanctioned by OFAC: No
Biography
José Daniel Ferrer García is the founder and National Coordinator of the Unión Patriótica de Cuba (UNPACU), the country's largest dissident organisation. A former member of the 75 prisoners detained in the 2003 'Black Spring' crackdown, Ferrer has spent more years in Cuban prisons than free in the last two decades.
Ferrer was released, re-arrested, jailed in 2021 in the wake of the 11 July protests, and held until October 2025, when the Cuban government negotiated his exile to the United States. He arrived in Miami on 13 October 2025 with his family, ending one of the longest-running political imprisonments in contemporary Cuba.
From exile, Ferrer has continued to lead UNPACU operationally and remains one of the most public voices in the diaspora opposition — appearing in U.S. and Spanish media, meeting with U.S. policymakers, and publicly supporting the second Trump administration's tightened pressure posture on Havana through 2026.
Career timeline
- : Arrested in the 'Black Spring' crackdown — sentenced to 25 years.
- : Conditionally released after Catholic Church-mediated process.
- : Founds UNPACU.
- : Re-arrested; held in increasingly harsh conditions.
- : Re-arrested in connection with the 11 July nationwide protests.
- : Released into exile; arrives in Miami with family on 13 October.
- : Continues to lead UNPACU from Miami; publicly engages with US policy on Cuba.