Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06HAVANA11234
2006-05-26 21:12:00
CONFIDENTIAL
US Interests Section Havana
Cable title:  

CUBA HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP

Tags:  PHUM KDEM SOCI CU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9788
RR RUEHAG
DE RUEHUB #1234/01 1462112
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 262112Z MAY 06
FM USINT HAVANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8413
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HAVANA 011234 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2016
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBA HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP


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Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4(d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HAVANA 011234

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2016
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBA HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP


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Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4(d).


1. (C) Summary: The health of hunger-striking dissident
Guillermo Farinas has taken a turn for the worse, and he is
threatening to leave his hospital to "go home to die." The
"Ladies in White" are to be awarded Human Rights First's
annual prize. Activists reacted positively to their May 24
conference call with the Washington-based Friends of Cuban
Democracy. Little activity was reported on May 20, one year
after the Assembly to Promote Civil society held a major
dissident gathering. This time around, Assembly leader
Martha Beatriz Roque took part in a low-key event. The COM
spent the day making unannounced visits to the homes of
regime opponents. Three political prisoners, all among the
75 activists jailed in 2003, have ended their hunger strikes.
Wives of three other incarcerated 75ers say their husbands
are suffering serious health problems. Political prisoner
Oscar Biscet wrote to President Bush, urging that the USG
detain Fidel Castro for crimes against the American people.
Another dissident showed us stitches from where he says he
was clubbed by a State Security official. Heavy rains
resulted in dozens of homes being destroyed, and anti-Fidel
shouts were reported in at least one area of the capital. We
visited a rural "transit community" after the downpour and
found many Cubans living in abject poverty. End Comment.


2. (C) The health of independent journalist Guillermo
Farinas, 113 days into a hunger strike for Cuba-wide Internet
access, deteriorated this week. Farinas underwent two
emergency operations, in which doctors removed nearly a liter
of blood from his lung. He has expressed a strong desire to
leave his Santa Clara hospital and "go home to die." Farinas
is continuing to receive IV fluids, but his veins are said to
be shutting down. We have not been able to speak with
Farinas since May 19, but his mother told us May 26 that he
wants to leave the hospital and return to her house "to die."
Farinas' mother told us she would rather have her son seek
refugee status "from a friendly country, like yours, or
possibly through the ICRC." (Although Farinas has frequently

talked of martyrdom, we expect him to pull back from the
brink, as he has many times before.) If Farinas returns home
and refuses all nourishment, he could die within days. If he
loses consciousness, the authorities could send him back to
the hospital, where he would again be hooked up to an IV.
(Comment: The death of Farinas, a controversial but respected
dissident, would likely trigger protests in various cities
and, consequently, arrests. End Comment.)

ANOTHER AWARD FOR "LADIES IN WHITE"
--------------


3. (SBU) The "Ladies in White," relatives of political
prisoners, have been informed by the US-based NGO Human
Rights First that they will receive the group's annual human
rights prize. The prize, awarded in past years to Corazon
Aquino and Mary Robinson, will be presented October 16 in New
York City at a ceremony that is to draw "more than 800
lawyers, politicians and prominent business leaders from New
York and Washington." Leading Lady Laura Pollan said
representatives of her group would be delighted to attend,
but realize that the GOC might block their departure. Such
was the case last year, when the Ladies sought exit
permission to claim the European Parliament's Sakharov prize.

CONFERENCE CALL BRINGS HOPE
--------------


4. (C) Cuban activists are responding positively to May 24's
conference call connecting USINT with Rep. Lincoln
Diaz-Balart's office, in which the following people
participated: Martha Beatriz Roque and Nestor Rodriguez
Lobaina; various "Friends of Cuban Democracy" in Washington,
including the Ambassadors (or DCMs) of the Czech Republic,
Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and
Slovenia; Representatives Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart and
staff; other USG officials; various leaders of Miami's Cuban
community, including Angel de Fana, Sylvia Iriondo, Orlando
Guttierrez and Frank Calzon; and USINT staff, led by COM.
News of the event thrilled several Ladies in White, and Roque
and Lobaina were particularly energized. During the
conference call, the Europeans expressed solidarity with the
dissidents and asserted that it is only a matter of time
before democracy reaches Cuba. The dissidents appealed,
above all, for the immediate liberation of all political
prisoners. The Slovak Ambassador said his Embassy in Havana
would offer free Internet service to dissidents "within
weeks."

MAY 20 PASSES QUIETLY

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--------------


5. (C) Cuba's former Independence Day, Saturday, May 20,
passed with little fanfare, a year after a large group of
pro-democracy activists held an unprecedented gathering in
the backyard of 75er Felix Bonne. This year, an act of
repudiation was held at the site of last year's event, and
across town, four Assembly officials met briefly at a prison
cell that once held Jose Marti. One of the four, Miguel
Valdez Tamayo, spent the previous night at a nearby park to
avoid detention. COM and Poloff spent the day making
unannounced visits to dissidents' homes, including those of
freed 75ers Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Roberto de Miranda, and
Jorge Olivera; Lady in White Laura Pollan; Ana Aguililla
(wife of political prisoner Francisco Chaviano); Elsa Morejon
(wife of political prisoner Oscar Biscet); and Beatriz del
Carmen Pedroza (wife of political prisoner Julio Cesar
Galvez). During the stop at De Miranda's home, the COM met
with a half-dozen academics taking part in an event to mark
the day.

POLITICAL PRISONERS END PROTESTS
--------------


6. (C) Three political prisoners who are members of Oswaldo
Paya's Christian Liberation Movement called off their hunger
strikes. Luis Enrique Ferrer Garcia, the 75er who received
the longest sentence of all (28 years),discontinued his
action along with Alexis Rodriguez Fernandez and Agustin
Cervantes Garcia. They were protesting their unjust
incarcerations and poor prison conditions. On May 25, we met
with wives of three other imprisoned 75ers -- Omar Ruiz,
Arturo Perez and Lester Gonzalez -- all suffering major
health problems. Perez alone has spina bifida, gastritis,
emphysema and prostate issues, as well as cellmate problems.
Another political prisoner, Oscar Biscet, managed to send us,
through a note inside a book's hard cover, a letter to
President Bush. In the letter, dated January 6, Dr. Biscet
says the human rights situation in Cuba requires "preventive
action." He also proposes that the USG take Fidel Castro
into custody for crimes against the American people, and says
that if Cubans were to rebel against Castro, they would be
massacred "like those at Tiananmen Square."

DISSIDENT BEATEN IN STREET
--------------


7. (C) Dissident Jesus Verdecia Castillo of the Pro-Human
Rights Party met with us May 23 and showed us stitches on his
head from what he says was an unfavorable May 16 encounter
with a State Security agent. Verdecia was summoned to a
State Security office in Santa Clara and after that meeting,
a State Security officer allegedly followed him and attacked
him with a stick. Witnesses were allegedly present but
unwilling to get involved. When Verdecia went to a hospital
for treatment, he said, two other dissidents happened to be
there, and the GOC responded by sending 20 policemen to the
scene, plus State Security officials. Verdecia ended up
spending the next 12 hours in custody before being released
without charge.

HEAVY RAINS ADD TO MISERY
--------------


8. (SBU) Heavy downpours May 22 and 23 resulted in dozens of
Havana homes being destroyed. In the hard-hit inland
neighborhood of Santo Suarez, anti-Fidel shouts were
reported. Home video of the scene, shared with USINT, did
not contain audio of any such shouts, but showed considerable
destruction caused by floodwaters six feet deep. On May 24,
we visited a "transit community," an official housing complex
for those who have lost their homes, on the outer fringes of
Havana. We found widespread poverty among the estimated 700
residents at the site, one of three in Havana's San Miguel
del Padron municipality.

COMMENT
--------------


9. (C) The deterioration of Farinas' health has received
considerable attention both domestically and abroad. His
death would not only cost Cuba's human rights community one
of its most dedicated members but could trigger street
protests. It has been many years since a dissident has died
under these kinds of circumstances. On a brighter note, we
see nothing but an upside to the Ladies' latest honor, and we
believe that the Friends of Cuban Democracy event could
generate momentum, particularly among some of our European
friends, toward holding the Castro regime accountable for

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ongoing rights violations.
PARMLY