CUBAN POLITICAL POLICE DETAIN YOUTH ACTIVIST

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 023566

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2016
TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBAN POLITICAL POLICE DETAIN YOUTH ACTIVIST

REF: HAVANA 23546

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


1. (C) Summary: Cuban State Security officials searched the
home of youth activist Ahmed Rodriguez Albacia on December 4
and took him into detention, ten days after he helped
organize an opposition youth forum that brought together
three influential youth groups. Witnesses said the officials
forced Rodriguez into a vehicle and drove him to a notorious
State Security detention center in Havana. On November 29,
the 21-year-old Rodriguez had reported that someone set a
fire on the roof of his home. We are concerned about his
well-being. The other two youth-group leaders involved in
the youth forum have not been detained. End Summary.


2. (C) Two carloads of political police officers visited the
Havana home of youth leader Ahmed Rodriguez Albacia early
December 4 and after confiscating his laptop computer and
other items, forced him into a car and took him to a
detention center. The detention came ten days after
Rodriguez, of Jovenes Sin Censura, played a leading role in
an opposition youth forum (reftel) that brought his group
together with the Marti Youth Coalition and the Young Cubans
for Democracy Movement.


3. (C) According to two eyewitnesses, the State Security
officials arrived around 6 am at the ramshackle, Old Havana
home that Rodriguez shares with his mother and sister. After
a thorough search of the premises, the officials confiscated
the computer, books, papers, pens and a DVD player.
Witnesses said that around 9 am, State Security informed
Rodriguez that he was being detained. He resisted, and then
officials forced him into a vehicle and drove him to the 100
y Aldabo detention center.


4. (C) Rodriguez, a 21-year-old independent journalist from
the Holguin town of Antilla, was subjected to "acts of
repudiation" on October 31 and November 1. Five days after
the November 24 youth forum, he reported that someone had set
a fire on the roof of his house. USINT's phone calls to his
home on December 4 reached a recording that stated that the
line was temporarily out of service.

COMMENT
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5. (C) The Cuban regime didn't waste much time after its
December 2 army parade and Castro birthday events to
retaliate against this youth leader. Rodriguez, courageous
and intelligent, knew that detentions, and even convictions,
could follow the November 24 youth forum. (We spoke with
another youth-group leader, Edgard Lopez Moreno, who has not
been detained. The third, Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, is
believed to be in hiding in Havana.) We are concerned about
Ahmed Rodriguez's well-being; 100 y Aldabo is a State
Security facility with a horrific reputation for brutality.
PARMLY