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
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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

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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