CUBAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS STAGE MASSIVE PROTESTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 001018

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/26/2017
TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL
SUBJECT: CUBAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS STAGE MASSIVE PROTESTS


Classified By: COM: Michael E. Parmly: For reasons 1.4 b/d


1. (C) SUMMARY: Several hundred students at the
University de Oriente in Santiago de Cuba participated in a
protest the past several weeks. Initially a small group of
students had surrounded the car of the dean to express their
outrage in the wake of the rape of a female student about the
lack of security on campus. Sources tell us that
spontaneously about 300 students joined the demonstration
angered about the dilapidated student housing, the poor
quality of the food and the lack of adequate lighting, as
well as a controversial decision to segregate male and female
students in separate dormitories this year. The students
avoided having any identifiable leaders of the protest. We
are told that the students focused on concrete problems on
campus and consciously avoided adding political demands. The
scale and the length of the protest appear to have taken the
authorities by surprise. Although academics and students
report that state security agents flooded the campus, to date
there have been no known expulsions or reprisals for
involvement in the demonstrations. Sources at the University
report some improvement in conditions there. End Summary



2. (C) In separate discussions with POL officers, Father
Jose Conrado, a parish priest in Santiago de Cuba and Roberto
de Meranda, a former political prisoner and head of the
independent College of teachers, gave accounts of a series of
student protests that had broken out in September at the
Universidad de Oriente in Santiago de Cuba in eastern Cuba.
Students at the beginning of the year were upset by the
decision to place male and female in separate dormitories.
De Miranda explained that numerous long term co-habitation
relationships had developed. Both De Miranda and Conrado
reported that students had for years endured living in
dilapidated dormitories with leaky roofs, and low quality,
poorly prepared cafeteria food. Frequently there was no
water for showers. The lighting was so inadequate that
students could only study in their rooms by the light of a
television set with the volume turned off. However, students
for the first time in a long time expected that the
University would make improvements this year.


3. (C) On 14 September a small student group upset about the
rape of a student the previous day surrounded the car of Dean
Zaida Valdes Estrada, shouting demands. The female student
allegedly was raped on the campus grounds by somebody who was
not a part of the University community. The students felt
that this case highlighted the lack of security on campus
including the fact that there was no lighting on the outside
of the dormitory buildings. Many students also expressed
anger that foreign students at the University received better
treatment than Cuban students. Press sources report that as
many as 300 students joined the protests. The website
CubaNet reported that the protest spread to the graduate
school the Instituto Superior Julio Antonio Mella.


4. (C) Conrado told us that the protests lasted for several
weeks in September and October. DeMiranda said that state
security agents quickly flooded on to the campus at the first
sign of student protest (i.e., following the incident of the
Dean's car),but we have not received any reports that
violence was used against the protesters. Conrado told us
that the officials were frustrated by the fact that the
students made sure that there were no identifiable leaders to
the demonstrations. Students passed the organizations of
each day's events to students in different faculties. The
University closed the dining hall in hopes that students
would return to their parents' homes, but the protests
continued.


5. (U) Press reports indicate that initially the students
expected possible expulsions after a general meeting at the
University on 25 September, but to date there has been no
known reprisals against student demonstrators. In fact,
reportedly the lights outside the dormitories are turned on
at night, and students told the website CubaEncuentro that
the dining hall had reopened and the food was now "like that
in hotels"

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4. (U) Comment: This protest is highly unusual in that it
started spontaneously, involved large numbers of students and
lasted a long time. Despite the fact that the protest built
quickly, the students very effectively frustrated the
authorities who in the past have quashed demonstrations
rapidly by detaining the ringleaders. In this case,
officials could not identify any specific leaders. Our
sources also emphasized that the protests were not a response
to a sudden deterioration in conditions; the students in fact
had endured the same bad living conditions for years. It is
also significant that the protesters consciously avoided
politicizing their demands. They knew what they could get
away with. That is not a sign of cowardice, but rather shows
a calculated awakening of consciousness. This reflects the
same wave of rising expectations seen in many parts of Cuban
society since Raul Castro's speech of 26 July. Many Cubans
want specific, concrete improvements in their living
conditions now, and are increasingly vocal in expressing that
demand.

PARMLY