NEW THINKING IS NEEDED, PAYA TELLS CHIEF OF MISSION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 010738 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2016 TAGS: PHUM PREL KDEM SOCI CU SUBJECT: NEW THINKING IS NEEDED, PAYA TELLS CHIEF OF MISSION HAVANA 00010738 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4(d). ¶1. (C) Summary. Leading Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, chief of the Christian Liberation Movement and driving force behind the Varela Project, told the COM May 18 that "we all have to do new things" to help bring democracy to Cuba. When asked about a recent overture from Martha Beatriz Roque, he shied away from making any reciprocal gesture. Meanwhile, independent journalist Guillermo Farinas stretched his hunger strike to Day 111, and was recovering from an operation to drain water and air from his lung. He did not rule out the idea of some day ending his hunger strike even if the GOC fails to grant his wishes. At least three political prisoners are waging separate hunger strikes, and another's food privileges are being restricted because he refuses to accept reeducation. Activist Felix Bonne, whose backyard hosted last year's May 20 dissident Assembly, said the GOC is taking no chances with the property this year. Roque reports continued harassment. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya told COM on May 18 that to promote democracy in Cuba, people on all sides will have to engage in new thinking, and the mindset of confrontation will have to be neutralized. The COM said he had discussed a number of ideas during a recent visit to Washington, and noted that GOC hostility toward USINT had increased since the January debut of USINT's electronic billboard. Paya then asked, "Why are you prepared to continue playing on the same muddy field? What's needed is a change of style, a change of language." However, Paya indicated he will continue to press the GOC on a number of fronts, including holding Cuba accountable, at the UN's new Human Rights Council, for Cuban promises made prior to the HRC election. Paya also said he and his colleagues would contact foreign churches and labor unions and urge them to "get their governments to demand accountability" for the Cuban Government's actions. The COM observed that Martha Beatriz Roque recently sent Paya's wife, the mother of three children, flowers on Mother's Day. Paya said it was important to show solidarity at times like these. However, he implied that, on substance, he lacked faith in Roque's "credibility." FARINAS UP TO DAY 111 
 -------------- ¶3. (C) Hunger-striking dissident Guillermo Farinas extended his hunger strike to Day 111. Speaking to us May 19 from his hospital room in Santa Clara, Farinas said he is feeling weary following an operation to drain water and air from his left lung. He is being kept alive with intravenous fluids. He said he had received no recent communication from the GOC, which has refused to meet his demand to provide Internet access to all Cubans. He called the hunger strike "the only way I have to protest" against the GOC's injustice, adding, "We're showing the world what a liar the Cuban Government is." In a slight step back from earlier statements, in which he indicated he would die for his cause, Farinas did not rule out an eventual end to his hunger strike, even if his demand is not met. "Up to this moment, I have no plan to give up" the hunger strike, he said. He also asked if we had heard he is being considered for a prize from a New Jersey-based organization. (We had not.) "ACT OF REVOLUTIONARY REAFFIRMATION" -------------- ¶4. (C) Felix Bonne, one of the 75 peaceful activists jailed in March 2003 for peaceful activity (but later released on health grounds),confirmed to us that the GOC has confiscated his half-acre back yard, which hosted last year's Assembly. The GOC is converting it into a park, and neighbors are already calling it "Assembly Park." Bonne said a twenty-something neighbor named Rigoberto was one of many people who, on May 20, 2005, gathered in the street in front of Bonne's house and yelled, "Down with Fidel!" Most were never identified, but Rigoberto apparently was. On May 15, 2006, a GOC-organized group of around 150 people - most of them high school students - gathered outside Rigoberto's house and held an "act of revolutionary reaffirmation" (aka "act of repudiation"). Participants sang songs and shouted slogans against Rigoberto, who was called a "worm" and a "terrorist." Rigoberto, whose house faces that of a Communist Party official, responded by tuning in Radio Marti, placing his radio near the window and turning the volume up full blast. According to Bonne, the participants eventually got bored, started dancing and having fun, and the authorities ended the event abruptly. ROQUE EXPECTS ABUSE TO CONTINUE HAVANA 00010738 002.2 OF 002 -------------- ¶5. (C) Martha Beatriz Roque, who has of late lived in a state of semi-permanent siege, got a visit of her own on the evening of May 17, after heavy rains soaked Havana and ruined some of the pro-regime "artwork" that decorates the wall in front of Roque's housing unit. Two suspected State Security agents visited the vacant unit next to Roque's, and then, within earshot of Roque, referred to the artwork and said more work remains to be done. Roque viewed this as a cryptic message that the GOC will continue to harass her, even though she has informed the GOC, through an attorney, that she is prepared to turn herself in for re-incarceration, rather than face continued abuse. Roque told us May 21 that a neighbor warned her not to leave her housing unit without permission. She also said she received a message from a self-described Interior Ministry official warning her that she would be murdered. POLITICAL PRISONERS CONTINUE PROTESTS -------------- ¶6. (C) Political prisoners Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia, Alexis Rodriguez Fernandez, and Agustin Cervantes Garcia extended their hunger strikes to three weeks on May 18, to protest against their incarceration and inadequate prison conditions, according to Paya. A fourth political prisoner, Ricardo Santiago Medina Salabarria, 37, has had food privileges restricted because he has not taken part in reeducation activities. His wife, Katia Martin, was told by staffers at Taco Taco prison on May 8 that limits will be placed on the amount of food supplies she can bring during her visits, once every three weeks. PARMLY