Cuba released jailed activist Jose Daniel Ferrer after a deal with the US

A leading Cuban dissident and activist has been released from prison as part of a broader prisoner release agreement between the Cuban government and the United States.

José Daniel Ferrer spent more than three years in prison after anti-government protests swept the communist-ruled island in 2021.

In a deal brokered by the Catholic Church, outgoing US President Joe Biden removed Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism just days before his term ends.

In turn, Cuba said it would release 553 people, many of whom were detained during anti-government protests.

Island began the release of the first of a hundred prisoners on Wednesday, freeing about 20 people, according to local NGOs.

Ferrer is one of the most famous names among Cuban dissidents and democracy activists. The 54-year-old leader of the Cuban Patriotic Union (Unpacu), the country’s opposition group, was jailed and charged with rioting after the 2021 protests.

“I am at home, in good health, but I have the courage to continue fighting for the freedom of Cuba,” Ferrer told Reuters by phone.

Many of the prisoners released this week were arrested in connection with the 2021 protests, in which citizens demanded that the Cuban government do more to ease widespread food shortages and reduce rising prices.

Biden’s decision to remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism came days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, criticized the decision to ease sanctions against Cuba, hinting that it could be reversed.

Speaking at a Senate nomination hearing on Wednesday, Rubio said, referring to some of the sanctions on Cuba that the Biden administration lifted on Tuesday, that “the new administration is not bound by that decision.”

Trump’s earlier pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told Fox News that “whatever (the Biden administration) is doing now, we can do in response, and nobody should have any illusions about changes in Cuba. policy”.

The Cuban government claims that the designation of the island as a state sponsor of terrorism is grossly unfair and aimed at harming its economy by making it impossible for Cuba to access international bank loans.