CUBAN PRO-DEMOCRACY GROUP TO DISTRIBUTE BULLETINS

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 023527 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2016 TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU SUBJECT: CUBAN PRO-DEMOCRACY GROUP TO DISTRIBUTE BULLETINS Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Buddy Williams for Reason 1.4(d). ¶1. (C) A leading Cuban pro-democracy group, Martha Beatriz Roque's Assembly to Promote Civil Society (APSC),plans to start distributing a two-sheet, four-page news "bulletin" on the streets of several Cuban cities on December 10, Human Rights Day. On November 15, Roque shared with us a draft of the bulletin, which calls itself a "precursor to a more substantial publication" aimed at "breaking the official disinformation." (The later publication, Roque indicated, will run around 30 pages.) Among the subjects addressed in the letter-sized handout are the recently concluded Ibero-American summit in Uruguay ("Democratic governments and institutions should not cooperate with a dictatorial system"),the APSC's ongoing "Congress" of independent librarians, and information on fundamental rights. Roque told us that the bulletins, titled "20 de Mayo," will likely be released monthly. Roque said the APSC will initially print 500 copies and distribute them in various, as-yet-identified Cuban cities. In Havana, she said, APSC members will hand out bulletins primarily in "neighborhoods where there is relatively strong opposition to the regime," such as Cerro, San Miguel del Padron and Arroyo Naranjo, all of which are home to marginalized communities. COMMENT -------------- ¶2. (C) The Assembly's bulletin will likely put the Cuban Government on edge and provide much-needed information to the Cuban people, albeit on a tiny scale. The fact that the APSC writes, edits, publishes and distributes the bulletin will challenge the regime's standard counterattack accusing the APSC of being USG agents. But we can expect the regime to use that line in any case. WILLIAMS