CUBA FREES POLITICAL DETAINEE, LETS 3 OTHERS LEAVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 022539

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2016
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBA FREES POLITICAL DETAINEE, LETS 3 OTHERS LEAVE
ISLAND


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


1. (C) Summary and Comment: The Cuban Government freed
political detainee Ricardo Medina Salabarria on October 25
after holding him without charge for more than 15 months.
Medina, head of the religious affairs committee of the
Assembly to Promote Civil Society (APSC),was taken into
custody after his family posted a sign on its balcony
stating, "Freedom for Political Prisoners." Meanwhile, the
Cuban Government has quietly issued "white cards," granting
exit permission, to two dissidents on conditional probation.
Mario Enrique Mayo and Julio Antonio Valdes Guevara are among
the 75 activists who were jailed in March 2003. They intend
to migrate. Another dissident, independent journalist
Richard Rosello, has also received exit permission. The
issuance of three white cards in short succession, followed
by the freeing of a political detainee, could mean that some
in the regime are interested in reform or liberalization.
More probably, we are seeing signs of a schizophrenic system
under severe strain. End Summary and Comment.


2. (C) Cuban dissident Ricardo Medina Salabarria, an Orthodox
Catholic priest, won freedom October 25 after doing hard time
at two police stations, a detention center and two
maximum-security prisons. He was taken into custody on June
22, 2005 during a crackdown that followed a rare protest
outside the French Embassy. At the time, a sign on Medina's
balcony stated, "Freedom for Political Prisoners; The
Homeland Belongs to All." Medina, a trained nurse who lost
his job after his ideological fallout with the GOC, largely
lost the ability to speak during his time in prison, due to a
vocal-chord cyst that went untreated. His wife, Katia
Martin, and their twin daughters were subjected to repeated
"acts of repudiation" while Medina was in prison. Martin told
us October 27 that she thinks her husband was released
because he was threatening to stage a hunger strike.


3. (C) Meanwhile, the Cuban Government has quietly granted
exit permission to two high-profile dissidents. Mario
Enrique Mayo and Julio Antonio Valdes, among the 75
pro-democracy activists jailed in a March 2003 crackdown (and
subsequently freed on health grounds),have both received
"white cards," enabling them to travel overseas. Mayo, an
attorney from Camaguey, was probationed in December 2005
after carving the words "liberty" and "innocent" into his
face, abdomen and forearms. His wife has migrated to the
United States, and Mayo told us he planned to join her there.
Valdes, a veteran dissident from southern Granma province,
told us he too intends to migrate north. A third dissident
who is not among the 75, independent journalist Richard
Rosello, has also received exit permission.
PARMLY