On 28 November 2019, the European Parliament adopted a resolution titled "Cuba, the case of José Daniel Ferrer" (P9_TA-PROV (2019) 0073), condemning the Cuban "regime" for its violations of human rights in general and, in particular, for his treatment of the opposition leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU).

José Daniel Ferrer is a well-known dissident backed by the United States. He has already been arrested and sentenced on several occasions on charges of spying for being in the pay of the US government. He was arrested again in October 2019 for public disorder and physical violence against other citizens. He sent a letter to the US claiming to have been tortured in prison.

On the eve of the European Parliament’s vote, a Cuban television news broadcast accused international media of conducting a slander campaign against the government. In turn, the US and Spanish media snapped back accusing Cuba of propaganda.

However, MEPs should have been more skeptical about José Daniel Ferrer’s torture allegations and the credibility of his statements: at 7mn42s of the video footage showing his interrogation, he can be seen deliberately injuring himself. Ferrer repeatedly slams his head hard on a table; the prison guard withdraws from the camera’s field of vision; Ferrer then blames the guard for just having hit him.