FARINAS HUNGER STRIKE HITS DAY 205

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 016901 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/24/2016 TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU SUBJECT: FARINAS HUNGER STRIKE HITS DAY 205 HAVANA 00016901 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4(d). ¶1. (C) Summary. The hunger strike of Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas reached 205 days on August 24, after the independent journalist allowed the flow of IV fluids to be restored following his transfer to a hospital room where he could receive visitors. Farinas' girlfriend, dissident Noelia Pedraza, told us Farinas has no intention of ending his campaign for Internet access for all Cubans. Pedraza said State Security is threatening to strip her of legal custody of her five-year-old son. State Security also continued to hound Elsa Morejon, wife of political prisoner Oscar Biscet. Dr. Biscet, at Combinado del Este prison, said hundreds of inmates have been transferred to other institutions. There is speculation, but no hard evidence, that the GOC plans a major roundup in advance of the September summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). End Summary. ¶2. (C) Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas stretched his hunger strike to 205 days on August 24 and allowed medical professionals to reconnect the catheter that is keeping him alive after going 24 hours without nourishment. Farinas had refused to accept IV fluids but changed his mind after authorities allowed him to transfer to a different part of his Santa Clara hospital, where he can speak to visitors through a glass wall. We met August 23 with Farinas' girlfriend, Noelia Pedraza, who said the GOC has relaxed its visitation rules and that 13 people had visited Farinas the previous day, including Pedraza's mother and a number of pro-democracy activists. Farinas, director of the outlawed Cubanacan Press agency, is said to be in stable condition but suffering from recurring headaches. CUSTODY OF SON IN DANGER -------------- ¶3. (C) Pedraza, of the Martha Abreu Women's Movement, told us she is experiencing heightened harassment from State Security. She said the GOC is threatening to strip her of custody of her five-year-old son, Danny, with whom she and her mother live. On April 27, she said, a State Security captain approached Pedraza's ex-husband and encouraged him to seek legal custody of Danny, hinting that courts would support the move. However, the ex-husband refused, Pedraza said, stating that the boy deserves to live with his mother. On August 15, Pedraza said, the director of the school that Danny plans to attend visited Pedraza's home and told her mother that Danny should be brought to school each day by his father, not his mother. BOGUS ACTIVISTS -------------- ¶4. (C) Another dissident who is suffering State Security harassment is Elsa Morejon, wife of political prisoner Oscar Biscet of the Lawton Human Rights Foundation. Morejon told us August 23 that so far this year, State Security has sent "at least 20" agents to her house posing as human rights activists. She said they're usually easy to identify based on their remarks. "They are the ones seeking money, or creating problems between my side of the family and Oscar's." GOVT CREATING SPACE IN HAVANA PRISONS -------------- ¶5. (C) Morejon, who last spoke with Biscet on August 21, quoted him as saying that at his prison - Combinado del Este (CDE),in Havana - "hundreds" of (non-political) prisoners have been transferred in recent weeks to other prisons or work camps, many in Pinar del Rio, on the western tip of Cuba. Biscet also said the GOC is increasingly using CDE inmates on construction projects. Ana Aguililla, wife of political prisoner Francisco Chaviano, told us August 24 that Chaviano recently told her that dozens of new bunk beds have been moved into at least one of CDE's two waiting rooms. COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (C) It is unclear why the authorities have been creating space at CDE and other Havana prisons. Some in the dissident community think the Cuban Government will launch a broad roundup of activists in advance of next month's NAM summit, to stifle any potential show of dissent. Others think the GOC will "clean" the streets of underemployed youth who are blamed for snatch-and-grab attacks. Our sense is that Raul Castro is keenly interested in control, and will take HAVANA 00016901 002.2 OF 002 whatever measures are necessary to secure the capital for the NAM summit. PARMLY