IN HAVANA, A (MOSTLY) HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 013782

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/05/2016
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: IN HAVANA, A (MOSTLY) HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

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


1. (C) Summary: Baseball trumped politics in Havana on July
4, with nearly 600 people attending USINT Havana's
baseball-themed Independence Day celebration at the Chief of
Mission's Residence. Civil-society figures, including Cuba's
most prominent dissidents, mingled with third-country
diplomats and chomped on hot dogs and popcorn while enjoying
baseball-themed music, videos and entertainment. Parking
restrictions imposed by the Cuban Government forced many
guests to walk up to ten minutes to reach the Residence, but
this did little to dampen enthusiasm for the festivities.
Earlier in the day, 23 pro-democracy activists gathered at
the home of dissident Roberto de Miranda to mark Independence
Day, and called for free elections. In a reminder of the
lack of basic freedoms in Cuba, police stopped and questioned
a dissident who had bumped into Poloff at a shopping center.
End Summary.


2. (C) USINT Havana treated nearly 600 guests to a July 4th
celebration at the COMR that featured baseball-themed food,
music and videos, as well as a home-run derby, an address by
the COM and a reenactment of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on
First?" The Cuban Government, which had denied USINT the use
of a nearby parking lot, banned parking along the little-used
streets bordering the Residence. Consequently, almost all
visitors to the COMR had to park on side streets and spend
five to ten minutes walking to the Residence. The
inconvenience irked some third-country diplomats but served
as a reminder of the bureaucratic difficulties faced by USINT
personnel. Overall, the reception was a big success. Our
Cuban guests were enthusiastic about the baseball theme,
including the giveaway baseballs, baseball cards and material
donated by Major League Baseball. Also popular were the
calendars featuring Cubans who starred in the Majors.


3. (C) Earlier on July 4, on the other side of Havana, 23
Cuban pro-democracy activists gathered at the home of former
political prisoner Roberto de Miranda and issued a signed
statement celebrating the 230th anniversary of the
Declaration of Independence. The activists, from as far away
as Camaguey, called for free elections and told Poloff they
were waiting for the Cuban people to be freed from the
culture of fear that permeates Cuban society. During the
gathering, two Dutch tourists arrived with books for De
Miranda's library, explaining that they were acting as
couriers on behalf of a Dutch NGO. (Cuban authorities did
not interrupt the meeting or visit De Miranda's home later
that day.) On July 3, eleven dissidents in Havana province
held what they described as a 4th of July celebration that
included a call for the liberation of political prisoners.


4. (C) Dissident Niurka Brito, who lost her job as a
milk-industry executive after blowing the whistle on
corruption, was stopped in the street and questioned by
police July 4 after a chance encounter with Poloff at a
shopping center. Fifteen minutes after Brito and Poloff
ended their five-minute conversation, three uniformed police
officers stopped Brito and questioned her about her
activities. Poloff witnessed the stop and heard the lead
police officer tell Brito, who was carrying two transparent
bags of fruit, that he had stopped her to check for "cocaine
or explosives." Brito was later allowed to return home.
(Note: On July 5, Brito told Poloff that the previous day,
while walking home, she was approached and roughed up by
other police officers. End Note.)


5. (SBU) The Cuban regime "observed" July 4 by organizing a
concert of American music for the official guild of writers
and artists (UNEAC). Cuban radio transmitted the official
line that "Anti-imperialism is not to be misconstrued as
anti-Americanism."
PARMLY