Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06HAVANA9469
2006-05-05 14:36:00
CONFIDENTIAL
US Interests Section Havana
Cable title:  

CUBA HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP

Tags:  PHUM PREL KDEM SOCI CU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0016
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUB #9469/01 1251436
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 051436Z MAY 06
FM USINT HAVANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6602
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 009469 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/05/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREL KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBA HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP

REF: A. HAVANA 9060


B. HAVANA 8986

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Alex Lee for Reason 1.4(d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 009469

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/05/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREL KDEM SOCI CU
SUBJECT: CUBA HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP

REF: A. HAVANA 9060


B. HAVANA 8986

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Alex Lee for Reason 1.4(d).


1. (C) Summary: Leading Cuban dissident Martha Beatriz Roque
is recovering after being roughed up by Communist militants
outside her home. Roque, weary but defiant, met with COM
April 29 and expressed pleasure with the wide media coverage
of the incident and subsequent foreign-government attention.
Roque says she had heard that ousted Politburo member Juan
Carlos Robinson Agramonte is being held at a notorious State
Security prison. Meanwhile, a dissident doctor who was
recently detained by police says GOC guards posted outside
USINT signed a declaration against him. The "Ladies in
White" have planned a Mother's Day activity. Independent
journalists had little to celebrate on World Press Freedom
Day. Hunger-striking dissident Guillermo Farinas says GOC
agents have revised his academic file and lowered his GPA.
Fabio Prieto Llorente, one of the 75 dissidents jailed in
March 2003, has been placed in a punishment cell.
Twenty-five dissidents held a recent vigil that was not
raided or even disrupted by the GOC. A Presbyterian minister
told us why you've gotta watch what you say. End Summary.


2. (C) Leading pro-democracy activist Martha Beatriz Roque
met with the COM on April 29, three days after Communist
militants outside her home left her red and bruised, with a
ripped skirt. The mob prevented her from participating in a
USINT-organized videoconference. Roque, defiant, vowed to
continue her activities, and reveled in the attention from
the French, Polish and other Embassies that sent
representatives, flowers or both. Roque said she had
received 400 expressions of concern, and expressed
satisfaction over the considerable media coverage generated
by the attack. Roque told the COM she had inside information
on the fate of Juan Carlos Robinson Agramonte, the Politburo
member booted on April 28 for improper conduct and attitude.
Roque said a member of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party (CP) had informed a confidant of Roque's that Robinson
is being held at Villa Marista, the State Security prison

modeled after the KGB's Lubyanka, and designed to break the
spirit. "Robinson must have done something wrong," she said,
comparing him to a senior Sugar Ministry official who, years
ago, publicly called the GOC's production targets
unrealistic. "The guy, Borrego, was fired, and called a
failure. He learned you can't say that kind of thing."

DISSIDENT DOCTOR DETAINED
--------------


3. (C) The day before militants assaulted Roque, others held
an "act of repudiation" at the home of dissident doctor Darsi
Ferrer. Ferrer was unscathed, but on April 26, after
visiting one of USINT's Internet Centers, he was picked up by
a patrol car and taken, without explanation, to a police
station. Ferrer told us he was placed in a cell near the
station's entrance, and to his surprise, in walked three
members of SEPSA, the GOC embassy "protection" force, all
assigned to posts near USINT (where they inspect the papers
of would-be visitors). He said each guard signed a sheet of
paper and then left. Later, Ferrer said, when he was being
moved within the police station, he was able to look at the
document in question. He said it is a declaration that
accuses the doctor of publicly disrespecting Fidel Castro at
the SEPSA post -- an assertion Ferrer denies. Ferrer was
warned he'd be taken to Villa Marista, but was freed.

"LADIES IN WHITE" PLAN MAY 14 ACTION
--------------


4. (C) Leading "Lady in White" Laura Pollan told us on May 3
that her group, joint winners of the 2005 Sakarov Prize,
plans to hold a special activity on Mother's Day, May 14.
Before attending Mass and carrying out their weekly march
calling for the liberation of their political-prisoner loved
ones, the Ladies intend to lay flowers at the Monument to
Leonor Perez, the mother of national hero Jose Marti. Last
Mother's Day, as the Ladies marched in front of Santa Rita
church, a large, GOC-directed group of female
counter-protestors confronted the Ladies. This time, Pollan
said, they'll hold the activity before Mass to throw off the
GOC.

HAPPY PRESS-FREEDOM DAY
--------------


5. (C) Cuba's independent journalists had little reason to
celebrate World Press Freedom Day on May 3. They continued
to suffer harassment, intimidation and physical attacks. In
Ciego de Avila, Jose Manuel Caraballo was recently punched in
the street by an unknown person. The assailant smashed
Caraballo's camera and warned him that he would be destroyed
just like his camera. In Havana, Roberto Santana recently
received an invitation to attend a videoconference organized
by USINT. State Security officials met with him and told him
that if he were to even leave his house on the day of the
event, there would be "grave physical consequences." Also in
Havana, State Security recently detained, interrogated and
threatened journalist Luis Cino.

FARINAS FILE
--------------


6. (C) Hunger-striking independent journalist Guillermo
Farinas, now up to Day 94 of his hunger strike, remained
hospitalized in Santa Clara and hooked up to an IV, but was
not beyond the reach of the GOC. Farinas said State Security
agents recently visited his alma mater, the Superior
Institute of Health Sciences, and tinkered with his file.
Consequently, Farinas said, his GPA has gone from a 4.51 (on
the 1-5 scale) to 4. In this way, he was stripped of his
status as a former "exemplary student."

POLITICAL PRISONER IN PUNISHMENT CELL
--------------


7. (C) Political prisoner Fabio Prieto Llorente, serving 20
years for "acts against the independence or territorial
integrity of the state," has been placed in a punishment
cell, according to his sister. The sister, a "Lady in White"
who recently visited Prieto at the Guayabo prison on the Isle
of Youth, explained that he was served food on a filthy tray
and asked for a clean one. The next day, Prieto, 43, was
punched in the eye by a fellow inmate, in front of a guard
who took no action. The same day, Prieto was sent to a
punishment cell. His sister said he remains in good spirits
but is suffering from emphysema, stomach woes and other
ailments. The sister, for her part, was "completely
strip-searched" on her way out of the prison by female guards
"in order to humiliate me." The family's home in Nueva
Gerona was subjected to a 100-person "act of repudiation" on
March 18, the third anniversary of the Black Spring
crackdown. The sister said only about 20 in the crowd were
actively participating; some were drinking, shouting
profanities, and exposing their backsides.

VIGIL HELD FOR RELEASE OF POL PRISONERS
--------------


8. (C) Political prisoners were on the minds of 15 dissidents
who took part in an April 28 vigil at the home of dissident
Aurelio Bachiller. The organizer, Carlos Serpa, said
participants called for the immediate release of all
political prisoners and detainees. Serpa told us no arrests
were made and that the event was undisturbed. Participants
included members of two outlawed labor unions: the
Independent National Workers Conference (CUNI) and the Union
of Independent Light Industry Workers (SITIL).

PRESBYTERIAN LEADER: ONCE BITTEN TWICE SHY
--------------


9. (C) The Rev. Hector Mendez of the Presbyterian Reformed
Church shared concerns about GOC intimidation of churches and
clergy members, but acknowledged that he was afraid to speak
too frankly. In 1990s, he explained, members of the NGO Pax
Christi came to Havana, met with him, told him the
discussions were off the record, and subsequently published
materials that made clear he was the source. The regime,
Mendez said, was not amused. He did not describe the
reprisals.

COMMENT
--------------


10. Cuba's long-suffering activists continue to pay the
price for Fidel Castro's zero-tolerance policy on dissent. We
are bracing for a surge in GOC repression following the May
20 announcement of CAFC measures. Closer to home, we are
wondering what prompted the GOC to deny, on May 3, exit
permission to Flora Figueroa, USINT's Cuban nurse who was to
travel to a health conference in Baltimore. She had traveled
before to the United States on USINT-related medical business
more than once. The Cuban Health Ministry allegedly told her
it saw "no need" for her to travel at this time.
LEE