Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07HAVANA1044
2007-11-05 21:53:00
CONFIDENTIAL
US Interests Section Havana
Cable title:  

DAMAS DE BLANCO MEMBER DETAINED FOR CHANGE BRACELET

Tags:  CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL 
pdf how-to read a cable
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C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 001044 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/05/2017
TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL
SUBJECT: DAMAS DE BLANCO MEMBER DETAINED FOR CHANGE BRACELET


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

C O N F I D E N T I A L HAVANA 001044

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/05/2017
TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL
SUBJECT: DAMAS DE BLANCO MEMBER DETAINED FOR CHANGE BRACELET


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


1. (C) SUMMARY: On 4 November a policeman took Bertha
Soler, a leading activist in Damas de Blanco, an organization
of the wives of Cuban political prisoners, to a police
station in Central Havana after she refused to remove a
bracelet with the word Cambio (Change) on it. After Bertha
asserted her rights she was released after 25 minutes with
the bracelet still on her wrist. No charges were filed. End
Summary



2. (C) A local police officer stopped Bertha Soler in a
street in Central Havana just outside the home of Damas en
Blanco leader, Laura Pollan. Bertha is the wife of Angel
Moya Acosta, one of the 75 dissidents jailed in a massive
crackdown in 2003. Bertha works closely with Laura, and
stays frequently in Laura's home when Bertha visits Havana.
The police officer escorted Bertha to the local police
station after Bertha refused to remove a bracelet with the
word Cambio (Change) on it.



3. (C) Less than an hour after the incident Bertha reported
to POL officers that at the station she said that she would
not surrender the bracelet because Fidel and Raul say that
everyone lives in a free and democratic Cuba and she has the
right to wear whatever she chooses. When police officers
asked her what was the reason she was wearing the bracelet,
she told them that the word "change" has many meanings that
they could look up in the dictionary. She suggested that if
they did not know who she was, they should call state
security. In that case they'd know that she was a member of
Damas de Blanco and for her it meant change of the system.
Apparently the police officers did call state security. They
then released Bertha still wearing the bracelet. She was in
the police station a total of 25 minutes. No charges have
been filed.



4. (C) Comment: The response of the police to Bertha's
courageous defiance is instructive. It also indicates the
continued prestige of the Damas de Blanco.
PARMLY