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