Cuban Regime Targets Activists José Daniel Ferrer and Rosa María Payá in Granma Newspaper

In a continued effort to discredit political opposition, the Cuban regime has launched an attack on activists José Daniel Ferrer and Rosa María Payá through an article published on Friday in Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party. The piece, titled "Counterrevolutionary Activists Call for Double Blockade Against Cuba," labels the two dissidents as "mercenaries" and accuses them of encouraging the European Union to uphold economic sanctions against the island.

According to the state-controlled publication, Ferrer and Payá allegedly urged the European Parliament to "intensify the economic blockade against their own country." The author describes them as part of the so-called "paid opposition" and accuses them of advocating for more harsh measures, including military aggression, to topple the government.

The article continues with an ideologically charged and aggressive rhetoric, claiming that "aligned with Washington, they aim to weaken the Revolution and fill their hungry pockets, threatened by the fund restrictions imposed by the White House." Additionally, it accuses Rosa María Payá of receiving funding from the U.S. administration and, along with Ferrer, seeking the suspension of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between Cuba and the EU.

In one of the most vitriolic sections, the text states, "It is unbelievable how much evil resides in the souls of those who, for money, are willing to inflict such pain on their own people [...] These mercenaries, for there is no other way to name them, attempt to raise the stakes [...] in exchange for a nod of approval from their masters."

The leader of the Unión Patriótica de Cuba (UNPACU), José Daniel Ferrer, responded via his official account on X (formerly Twitter), criticizing the orchestrated nature of the attack. "Here is the best evidence that the frenzied attacks and slanders against @RosaMariaPaya and myself [...] originate from the tyranny's orders of @DiazCanelB. [...] The regime felt it wasn't enough and decided to attack through its official organ, @Granma_Digital. [...] The headquarters of @DamasdBlanco and #UNPACU are surrounded by repressive forces."

This article in Granma is part of a long-standing tradition where the regime utilizes state media as tools of defamation to delegitimize dissent. Instead of engaging in democratic debate over the activists' criticisms, the focus is on personal disqualification, ideological manipulation, and the criminalization of activism.

Rosa María Payá was recently nominated by the U.S. government as a candidate for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), a move that has been met with strong opposition from the regime. This nomination is seen as an acknowledgment of her work in defending the civil and political rights of Cubans. She has also participated in various hearings before the European Parliament, consistently emphasizing the "imposed hunger and misery" in Cuba and denouncing the arbitrary imprisonment of hundreds of political prisoners.

Furthermore, she has urged the international community to stop "supporting the dictatorship" and to focus on empowering Cuban civil society. José Daniel Ferrer, who was released on January 16 of this year after three and a half years of total and arbitrary isolation, has continued his political and social activism, facing constant repression from the regime's oppressive forces. Recently, he reported a total internet outage in the Altamira neighborhood of Santiago de Cuba, where UNPACU's main headquarters is located, following a visit by journalists from the international agency Reuters.