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
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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