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 -------------- ¶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