DAUGHTER OF INDEPENDENT LIBRARIAN HELD

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 001171 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CCA; NSC FOR SENIOR DIRECTORS KORZAK AND FISK E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/17/2017 TAGS: CU PGOV PHUM PINR PREL SUBJECT: DAUGHTER OF INDEPENDENT LIBRARIAN HELD INCOMMUNICADO FOR ONE WEEK Classified By: COM: Michael E. Parmly: For reasons 1.4 b/d ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On 12 December, independent librarian Nereyda Rodriguez Rivero reported that she had not heard from her 19 year old daughter Yuricel Perez Rodriguez since 7 December. She said that a state security agent who had infiltrated her organization revealed that Yuricel had been picked up and sent to a police station in Central Havana. Rodriguez said that a police officer violently grabbed Rodriguez by the arm when she made inquiries at the police station. The authorities did not give Rodriguez any information. However, a member of the local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution called Rodriguez's neighbor and stated that the action was the government's response to Rodriguez and her daughter participating in a DVC with First Lady Laura Bush on 27 November. Rodriguez learned on 13 December that her daughter had been released. She sent her daughter to stay with a relative in another city. Rodriguez describes her daughter as very traumatized by the experience and hopes that Yuricel's refugee case can be approved quickly. End Summary. ¶2. (C) On 12 December Nereyda Rodriguez Rivero told POL officer that she had not seen her daughter Yuricel Perez Rodriguez, since Friday, December 7. She said that her daughter had gone to the hairdressers in their hometown of Campo Florido to get Yuricel,s hair done for a reception on 10 December in COM's residence. She never returned home. She said that a member of the local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution named Caridad called Rodriguez's neighbor and said that a state security agent, later identified as Adrian Avela Esnandez, an apparent infiltrator in her organization (Fundacion Cubana de Derechos Humanos) took Yuricel away in a car. Caridad said that the abduction was the "Cuban government's response" to Rodriguez's and Yuricel's participation in the DVC on 27 November with First Lady Laura Bush. ¶3. (C) Rodriguez immediately went to the police station of Guarnabo in Central Havana where she had been told that her daughter was being held. The authorities there refused to give her any information. Rodriguez remained at the police station for several hours until a police official, T. Diosbel Tamacez Flore, violently grabbed her by the arm and pushed her away. Rodriguez showed POL officer a circular bruise on her forearm that she said had been inflicted by this police officer. ¶4. (C) Rodriguez, although she lives in a very small town, has for ten years run one of the best organized and most successful independent libraries in Cuba. Yuricel is at University studying library science and was engaged in a project to demonstrate in cities and towns all over Cuba how to establish and maintain independent libraries. ¶5. (C) On 14 December Rodriguez contacted POL officer to state that her daughter had been released the previous day. She stated that Yuricel had no physical injuries but was emotionally very traumatized by the events. Yuricel had been held in a state security house in a residential neighborhood. She stated that state security agents told that her participation in the DVC with Mrs. Bush was an act of ingratitude to a government that was providing her with a free education and that Yuricel could be made "to disappear". ¶6. (C) Other Cuban youths have described these state security houses such as that where Yuricel was held as indistinguishable from any other residential home in the neighborhood. They state that the accommodations are not bad and that in these facilities physical coercion is not used. Instead a person is kept in a cold room with the air HAVANA 00001171 002 OF 002 conditioning turned up high and interrogated for many hours. En route to the detention house the police keep the detainee's head down in a car that drives around for a very long time so that the detainee has no idea where he or she is. ¶7. (C) On 17 December POL officer and APAO visited Rodriguez at her home. Rodriguez said that she has quietly placed Yuricel with her sister in the city of Matanzas. Nereyda, normally full of enthusiasm for her library and other activities, was visibly tense and depressed. She stated that her daughter is very frightened. Rodriguez stated that for the last several days most of her neighbors will not talk to her after being instructed to avoid her by members of the local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution. Rodriguez stated in May 2007 Yuricel was struck in the face by government supporters after she attended a meeting with 300 other Cuban youths. Rodriguez stated that in July of 2007 when she was returning from a FLAMUR rally (Federation of Rural Women of Latin America) as part of a campaign to end Cuba's system of two currencies, a government agent threw her off a bus and hit Rodriguez in the mouth, loosening some teeth. At this point Rodriguez is only focused in trying to get Yuricel's refugee application approved. The family applied for refugee status some time ago. Rodriguez said that she and her husband would be content to stay in Cuba if Yuricel could leave. Rodriguez already has an adult daughter who lives in the US. ¶8. (C) Comment: This episode is another example of the Cuban government using short term detentions and/or intimidation against younger people to dissuade them from participating in any form of political activity. Neither of the other two adult participants in the DVC with the First Lady received any type of threat from government agents after the event. The regime appears particularly threatened by the activities of young people. The case has been brought to the attention of the USINT Refugee Unit. PARMLY