CUBAN ACTIVISTS SLAM REGIME IN MESSAGES TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 023342 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2016 TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU SUBJECT: CUBAN ACTIVISTS SLAM REGIME IN MESSAGES TO IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT Classified By: COM Michael Parmly for Reason 1.4 (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Cuban pro-democracy activists signaled to participants in the Montevideo Ibero-American Summit their dismay over the participants' failure to hold the Cuban Government accountable for human rights violations. Oswaldo Paya of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) released a statement Noveber 3 to the people of Latin America, Spain and Portugal, calling it "scandalous" that all Ibero-American peoples - except for Cubans - can elect their leaders democratically. Martha Beatriz Roque of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society (APSC) urged summit participants to stop cooperating with the GOC, and disseminated ten key points on which the Cuban regime has failed to meet its obligations. The "Ladies in White" called for the unconditional release of their relatives and criticized the harassment of members. Figures from the Miami exile community traveled to Montevideo to make their voices heard. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) In an open letter titled "The Great Omission from the Ibero-American Summit," Oswaldo Paya's MCL on November 3 said summit participants should be scandalized by the lack of democracy in Cuba, and the fact that many Cubans are unjustly imprisoned simply for defending human rights. Paya and company said the GOC has clearly not complied with Valparaiso Declaration and other agreements, with regard to fundamental liberties. The note says the MCL does not seek to exclude the GOC from Ibero-American summits, but by the same token, "We do not ask that the oppression be legitimized." It ends by stating that the MCL has no doubt that a new age of justice, reconciliation and democracy is dawning in Cuba, in which Cubans will be able to select their leaders. ROQUE: STOP COOOPERATING WITH REGIME -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In a note of her own, Martha Beatriz Roque told summit participants that governments and democratic institutions should not cooperate with the totalitarian GOC. The note contains 10 points on which the GOC has, she said, failed to live up to its commitments as part of the UNHRC and promises made at the Non-Aligned Summit. These shortcomings include, among others, the absence of: freedom of expression, speech, and association; multiparty elections; free movement; labor rights; religious freedom; private property; and rights for Cubans who live off-island. "LADIES" APPEAL FOR 75ERS' FREEDOM -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The Ladies in White, relatives of the 75 peaceful activists jailed in the March 2003 crackdown, also sent a written message to the summit participants. The Ladies pointed out that 60 of the 75ers remain behind bars and that 12 who are out on conditional probation could be returned to prison at any time. The group called on the participants to press the GOC to release all of their loved ones immediately and unconditionally. The Ladies also criticized StateQ'^Q0MFQQ ideo summit. Representatives included officials of "Plantados Hasta la Libertad," "MAR por Cuba," and the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights. COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (C) The Cuban opposition's chorus of criticism, and in particular the MCL's strongly worded message, underlines its understandable frustration with an international forum that has traditionally been quick to condemn the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba but slow to address the island's abysmal human rights record. Unfortunately, the collective sense of outrage that inspired these messages has yet to translate into increased unity in the dissident community. PARMLY