CUBA'S INDEPENDENT LIBRARIANS GATHER, DESPITE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HAVANA 000181 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE DEPT FOR WHA/CCA E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2017 TAGS: PHUM KDEM SOCI CU SUBJECT: CUBA'S INDEPENDENT LIBRARIANS GATHER, DESPITE SABOTAGE HAVANA 00000181 001.3 OF 002 Classified By: COM Michael E. Parmly for Reason 1.4 (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Despite an aggressive sabotage campaign by Cuban State Security, dozens of dissidents affiliated with Martha Beatriz Roque's organization held a one-day meeting in Havana on February 23 to mark the end of a six-month "Congress" of independent librarians. Around 50 activists took part. Cuban authorities prevented another 22 from participating in the event, which featured a 90-minute videoconference with key exile groups at Radio/TV Marti headquarters in Miami. Among the participants were Felix Bonne, Rene Gomez Manzano, former hunger striker Guillermo Farinas, two Ranchuelo, Villa Clara librarians beaten in a cruel October 2006 attack, and Eddy Hernandez Arencibia, the man at the center of the November 2006 Madruga incident. The activists seemed emboldened by having pulled the event off. The crackdown coincided with the GOC's effective ouster of at least three foreign correspondents (septel). End Summary. ¶2. (C) Fifty affiliates of Martha Beatriz Roque's Assembly to Promote Civil Society (APSC) gathered in Havana on February 23 to mark the end of APSC's six-month "Congress" of independent librarians. State Security officials, police and communist militants blocked at least 22 other pro-democracy activists from participating; some were removed from buses en route, while others had their national ID cards confiscated, obliging them to return home. In a USINT-facilitated videoconference with Miami, Roque and other APSC executives, including Bonne and Gomez Manzano, told those gathered, as well as NGO supporters in Miami, that more than 1,300 citizens had taken part in Congress debates, discussions and other activities, including distributing books and pamphlets such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ¶3. (C) Participants in the February 23 event included Internet-access crusader Farinas; Hernandez Arencibia of the Madruga incident, in which residents repelled police during an eviction; and Nancy Gonzalez and Orestes Suarez, the couple from Ranchuelo, Villa Clara province, whose savage beating by militants in October 2006 gained international attention. At the Miami end of the videoconference, at the offices of TV and Radio Marti, were the leaders of Plantados, MAR Por Cuba and other exile groups focused on Cuban political prisoners and pro-democracy activists. Inspector General Krongard and COM Parmly participated in the event with words of encouragement. The event was held at the PAOR. ¶4. (C) In a lengthy opening address, Roque noted the crackdown on APSC affiliates and paid homage to them and other independent librarians who had been beaten, intimidated or otherwise harassed by Cuban authorities in connection with Congress activities. She mentioned a number of specific cases, such as that of Alejandro Cabrera Cruz, a former political prisoner and independent librarian in Camaguey; a police chief told him on February 14 that because of his ties to "counter-revolutionary elements," he would not be allowed to leave his community until further notice. ¶5. (C) On the sidelines of the event, participants described the grim situation facing pro-democracy and human rights activists, particularly those outside Havana. The Ranchuelo couple told us that since the October beating, large bottles and/or big rocks have been hurled at their house on at least 15 occasions, always around 2 am and occasionally landing with sufficient force to shear off a window shutter. They blamed State Security. An APSC librarian from Cienfuegos, Juan Alberto de la Nuez Ramirez, said he and another invitee, Pablo Gonzalez Villa, were traveling to Havana on Febuary 21 when a Rapid Response Brigade of militants identified Gonzalez, demanded his ID card and sent him home. Eddy Hernandez Arencibia described rafting north after the Madruga incident; being intercepted by the USCG and taken to the Guantanamo base; leaving the base after, he says, hearing he would spend at least two years there pending placement in a third country; returning to Cuban territory and being immediately imprisoned for nine weeks; being threatened with prosecution for public disorder and assault against police; and finding himself homeless, along with his wife and 10-year-old daughter. COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (C) The regime's crackdown on APSC-event invitees, which HAVANA 00000181 002.3 OF 002 was harsher than expected, coincided with the GOC's effective ouster of at least three foreign correspondents (septel) and repressive actions against other dissidents, such as the blocking of a Matanzas group from the Peace, Love and Liberty Party from visiting USINT on February 23, and the summoning of freed 75er Jorge Olivera, to appear in court on February ¶27. The crackdown succeeded in reducing the number of event participants, but failed to sap its morale. Rather, APSC and its affiliates seemed emboldened by having pulled off the event. They reveled in the presence of Farinas, Hernandez, the recently released Gomez Manzano and others such as Noelia Pedraza, head of the Martha Abreu Women's Movement. The six-month-long Congress, including all of the activities described above, are the APSC's answer to the regime's claim that opposition has quietly accepted the Fidel/Raul succession scenario. PARMLY