CUBAN MILITANTS PUMMEL INDEPENDENT LIBRARIANS

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 021636

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2016
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBAN MILITANTS PUMMEL INDEPENDENT LIBRARIANS

REF: HAVANA 21100

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


1. (C) Summary: Cuban communist militants brutally attacked
two dissidents in Villa Clara province on October 10, the
opening day of an extended "Congress" of independent
librarians. The attack, which lasted more than an hour and
involved forcibly transporting the dissidents from one city
to another, left a man of 53 and his wife, 39, with black
eyes, deep bruises and cuts. The man also suffered broken
ribs; his wife had her trousers virtually ripped off. Eight
days after the attack, the two dissidents met with Poloff,
showed their clearly visible wounds and described the
harrowing incident. They vowed to continue their peaceful
opposition to the regime, and allowed the USG to disseminate
their facial photos, taken following the attack.
Unfortunately, theirs was not the only incident of repression
marring the start of the four-and-a-half-month-long
"Congress." End Summary.


2. (C) Orestes Suarez Torres, a welder whose dissident views
cost him his job, and his wife, Nancy Gonzalez Garcia, a
cigar roller, met with Poloff on October 18 and described a
vicious October 10 attack that left them both bruised and
battered. Suarez and Gonzalez, who operate an independent
library (illegal, in the regime's eyes) in Ranchuelo, Villa
Clara province, said all was well until they left the Santa
Clara home of dissident Noelia Pedraza, where an
independent-librarian "Congress" event had attracted 11
dissidents. A large crowd of communist militants stood
outside Pedraza's apartment building and staged an "act of
repudiation." When the dissidents left the building, they
were allowed to walk toward a bus stop. But en route, around
12 militants grabbed Suarez and Gonzalez and forced them into
two cars. Inside one, three female militants yanked on
Gonzalez's long hair and rained blows on her face, chest and
legs. Her trousers had been all but ripped off her body in
the process of forcing her into the vehicle. Inside the
other car, five male militants took turns pounding Suarez.
(Note: The victims told us they recognized one of the
attackers: Yordanis Junco, a judo instructor at the National
Sports Institute in Santa Clara. We have added the name to
USINT's list of "esbirros" -- henchmen -- implicated in human
rights violations, and encourage Washington addresses to do
the same. End Note.)


3. (C) The militants then drove the victims toward Ranchuelo,
some 50 minutes away. Stopping en route beside a stream, the
attackers splashed water on the dissidents, removing some of
the blood that had discolored their clothing. Upon arriving
in Ranchuelo, Suarez said, the militants parked their cars in
front of the Communist Party headquarters, where First
Secretary Wilfredo Hernandez Perez and State Security Major

SIPDIS
Jorge Luis Ojito looked on. Suarez, whose upper right arm
sports a large tattoo of Lady Liberty, said Maj. Ojito
informed the victims that they were restricted to the city of
Ranchuelo for one week. Finally, the couple was driven home
- only to find a crowd of some 80 people outside their home,
staging an act of repudiation and yelling "Viva Fidel." "All
Party militants," explained Gonzalez. After confiscating the
victims' notebook, shoes and lighter, the militants let the
dissidents enter their home.

COMMENT
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4. (C) Even by the abysmal human rights standards of Villa
Clara province - where in the city of Manicaragua, most
facilities and services are off-limits to dissidents -- the
October 10 attack was egregious. However, other ugly
incidents tainted the start of the "Congress," organized by
Martha Beatriz Roque's Assembly to Promote Civil Society. In
Havana, dissident and independent librarian Felix Bonne
Carcassas was subjected to an act of repudiation, while in
the Granma city of Bayamo, a State Security officer
threatened to organize an act of repudiation against
independent librarian Luis Daniel Silva, according to the
Assembly. We attribute the regime's aggressiveness in these
cases to a desire to set an example in response to the most
coordinated dissident activity since Fidel Castro's July 31
incapacitation.


5. (C) The married Ranchuelo couple have allowed us to
disseminate their facial photos, taken after the attack. We
have transmitted the photos to WHA/CCA and are considering
options for use on the island.
PARMLY