EU embassies visit wife of jailed Cuban dissident

Representatives from five European Union embassies in Cuba visited the wife of jailed political opposition activist Darsi Ferrer on Thursday, but insisted their visit was not political.

Diplomats from Sweden, Great Britain, Hungary, Poland and Germany saw Ferrer’s wife, Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, at her Havana home and brought donated items including food and clothing.

The group said it organized the visit on its own and had not been invited by the couple.

“This is a gesture of solidarity; it’s not a political act,” said Ingemar Cederberg, deputy chief of the Swedish Embassy. He said keeping an eye on the country’s human rights situation is “part of our job here.”

Cuban officials had no immediate comment, but in the past they have often complained about foreign diplomatic contacts with dissidents, accusing the countries of meddling in Cuban affairs and of helping “mercenaries” who are trying to undermine the communist system.

Ferrer, a physician, is among Cuba’s top dissidents. Like most opposition activists, however, he is better known in South Florida and Europe than on the island.

In years past, he has organized tiny Havana street demonstrations to mark International Human Rights Day in December.

He was arrested July 21 for allegedly purchasing bags of cement on the black market. The state controls nearly all construction under Cuba’s communist system and cement available from private sources is often pilfered from state stocks. Ferrer’s supporters say that his political views led authorities to jail him for a crime usually only punishable by a fine.

Thursday’s was the first such European Union visit with an opposition figure since the EU last summer lifted sanctions on Cuba that were imposed in 2003 in response to the Cuban government’s arrest of 75 leading dissidents, 54 of whom remain behind bars.

Cuba’s government does not comment on dissidents, most of whom it dismisses as agents of the United States working to undermine the communist system. But Cederberg said, “We want to get to the bottom of the matter a little better.”

Jorge did not deny that her husband obtained the cement, and even showed reporters a wall of her home that needed repairs. But she added that his arrest was motivated by politics, saying her husband “is not in prison for these supposed bags of cement.”