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

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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
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6. (C) The regime's crackdown on APSC-event invitees, which

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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