HAVANA, Jan 17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Cuban opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer was among a group of prisoners released Thursday in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island.

Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington's list of terrorism sponsors -- part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power Monday to Donald Trump.

"Thank God we have him home," Nelva Ortega told AFP of her husband Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the past two decades. His latest stint lasted three-and-a-half years.

A short while later, Ferrer urged Cubans on a Miami-based radio program to "not be afraid" to stand up to a government he said was "increasingly scared" and "increasingly weak."

In return for being removed from the US terror list that includes North Korea, Iran and Syria, cash-strapped Cuba promised to release 553 people -- many of whom the Biden administration said were "political prisoners."

By Thursday, Havana had freed about three dozen people, according to rights groups.

Most were arrested for taking part in mass July 2021 anti-government demonstrations over recurring power outages, food shortages and price hikes.

AFP saw four prisoners emerge from the San Miguel del Padron prison on the outskirts of the capital Havana on Thursday morning.

Marlon Brando Diaz, who was serving an 18-year sentence for his participation in the 2021 protests, said tearfully that he was thankful for "a new chance in life."

"It's a new start," he said, as he hugged emotional family members.

- 'Risky move' -

The deal with Washington paves the way for increased US investment in the Caribbean island, which has been under a trade embargo for over six decades.

In a sign that the thaw may be short-lived, however, Trump's pick for secretary of state, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, suggested Biden's decision could be reversed.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio is vociferously critical of that country's government and said Trump's incoming administration was not bound by Biden's policies.

"There is zero doubt in my mind that they (the Cuban government) meet all the qualifications for being a state sponsor of terrorism," he said at his US Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday.

The trickle of prisoner releases caused anguish for families still waiting for news of their loved ones.

Authorities have not released a list or a timetable of those to be freed.

Analysts said Cuba could be stalling to ensure Trump upholds the deal when he returns to the White House next week, with the remaining prisoners serving as a bargaining chip.

If so, "it's a pretty risky move," Michael Bustamante, chair of Cuban studies at the University of Miami, told AFP. "The Trump administration might not take kindly to this game at all."

- 'Stayed the course' -

Ferrer, from the eastern province of Santiago, has been in and out of prison for the past 20 years.

A fisherman and father of six, he was one of 75 political prisoners sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in 2003 as part of the so-called Black Spring wave of repression unleashed by authorities.

He was released in 2011, along with 130 other political prisoners following mediation by the Catholic Church, but resisted pressure to go into exile.

Later that year, he founded the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), one of the most active opposition organizations in a one-party state that bans rival political formations.

He was re-arrested on July 11, 2021, trying to join one of the biggest protests since the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959.

Authorities say about 500 people were given sentences of up to 25 years over the unrest, but rights groups and the US embassy in Havana say the figure is closer to 1,000.

Declared a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International, Ferrer's imprisonment has been a point of global contention.

Bustamante described his release as "pretty big" news.

"He is someone who has stayed the course," Bustamante said, noting his "long history of political activism."