Cuban government agents arrested the wife and three children of José Daniel Ferrer, the head of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) dissident group, on Monday for demanding a government-mandated routine visit with the democratic activist, arrested after planning a peaceful protest in October.

Wife Nelva Ortega has not seen Ferrer since early November, despite the government claiming they are adhering to international human rights norms in keeping him behind bars. The last time Ortega had access to her husband, she found him “looking like an old man” and threatening to go on hunger strike because guards were feeding him fecal matter.

UNPACU is Cuba’s largest dissident group, active throughout the island in organizing peaceful protests demanding elections and a fair democratic process on the island, ruled for over 60They took us to the city, kilometers from the headquarters. By our own we got here.”

Ortega noted that they violently tossed her into the bus used to expel her, with no regard to the safety of the infant in her hands. She argued that the denial of visitation rights proves that government claims that Ferrer is being cared for in accordance with human rights law is a lie.

Ferrer has been imprisoned for 56 days, missing for two weeks before the final visit Ortega received in early November. Prior to that visit, Ortega and the children organized a peaceful public protest in the streets of eastern Santiago de Cuba to demand proof of life for her husband. The protest ended when Castro agents violently assaulted the group in public,